Viasat Acquisition Of Inmarsat Receives Provisional Approval From UK

Viasat's acquisition of Inmarsat has been provisionally approved by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK, and is now subject to a public consultation.

The CMA found that the deal would not substantially reduce competition for providing Wi-Fi on planes, stating that while geostationary satellite operators compete closely in the inflight connectivity (IFC) market, they face significant competition in the coming years from emerging players in low Earth orbit such as Starlink and OneWeb.

The deal also needs to clear a separate investigation launched by Europe on February 13 into its impact on inflight connectivity competition.

The CMA's final report is due on March 30, and the European Commission is expected to make its decision on the transaction by June 29.

Due to the in-depth investigations the targeted completion date of the deal will push beyond Viasat's initial target date of March 8.

The deal still requires regulatory approval in the United States.