Viasat/Inmarsat Could Close Within Days: Analyst

With Viasat's $7.3 billion buy of Inmarsat (see 2111080038) getting U.K. Competition and Markets Authority approval last week, the deal should close within the next two weeks, William Blair's Louie DiPalma wrote investors Thursday. In a call with analysts Wednesday as the company announced results for its most recent quarter, CEO Mark Dankberg said ViasSat-3 Americas satellite should start offering service in mid-summer. Noting Viasat's and Inmarsat's existing L-band mobile satellite service businesses, Dankberg said direct-to-handset service is "a really attractive growth market for us." Asked about SpaceX competition in the satellite-delivered broadband marketplace, he said that market today is maybe 10 million to 15 million homes needing service that can deliver speeds that will support streaming. He said that marketplace may decline to 5 million to 7 million homes over the next decade due to broadband infrastructure buildouts. Viasat should be able to capture a "reasonably conservative moderate ... share of that market," he said.