EC Signs Off on Viasat/Inmarsat

Viasat's $7.3 billion purchase of Inmarsat announced in late 2021 (see 2111080038) should close within the next handful of days, Viasat said Thursday as it announced the European Commission signed off without conditions. The EC approval follows those earlier this month by the FCC (see 2305220003) and U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (see 2305180003). In a docket 22-153 filing Thursday, Viasat requested a time extension to come into compliance with the FCC's cap on multiple non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) systems in the same frequency bands. It said contractual restrictions on sharing competitive sense information before closing on Inmarsat means the two companies are "very limited" in their ability to address post-acquisition integration, including integration of business plans for their pending applications to operate V-band NGSO systems.