SES (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announced that, following a significant anomaly, the company is in the process of transferring capacity from its AMC-9 satellite.
The incident was noted on the morning of Saturday, 17 June 2017. SES has taken immediate action in contacting all customers and is working to transfer services to alternative satellite capacity in order to minimise disruption.
AMC-9 provided Ku-band and C-band coverage over the U.S. and Mexico. The satellite was manufactured by Alcatel/Thales and was launched in 2003.
SES is working closely with the manufacturer to establish the cause of the anomaly and is evaluating all satellite recovery options. The full impact of the anomaly is still being assessed.
In the event that the spacecraft cannot be recovered, the potential impact on SES’s full year 2017 group revenue could be up to EUR 20 million. In this event, it would also be expected to result in a one-off impairment charge of EUR 38 million.
About SES
SES is the world-leading satellite operator and the first to deliver a differentiated and scalable GEO-MEO offering worldwide, with more than 50 satellites in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and 12 in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). SES focuses on value-added, end-to-end solutions in two key business units: SES Video and SES Networks. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions. SES’s portfolio includes the ASTRA satellite system, which has the largest Direct-to-Home (DTH) television reach in Europe, O3b Networks, a global managed data communications service provider, and MX1, a leading media service provider that offers a full suite of innovative digital video and media services. Further information available at: www.ses.com
