Loral Space And Communications Inc's Competitiveness

Intelsat, SES and Eutelsat are each substantially larger than Telesat in terms of both the number of satellites they have in-orbit as well as their revenues. Telesat believes that Intelsat and its subsidiaries and SES and its subsidiaries each have global fleets of over 50 satellites, and that Eutelsat and its subsidiaries have a fleet of almost 40 satellites. Due to their larger sizes, these operators may be able to take advantage of greater economies of scale, may be more attractive to customers, and may (depending on the specific satellite and orbital location in question) have greater flexibility to restore service to their customers in the event of a partial or total satellite failure. In addition, their larger sizes may enable them to devote more resources, both human and financial, to sales, operations, product development and strategic alliances and acquisitions.

Regional and domestic providers: Telesat also competes against regional FSS operators, including:

• in North America: Ciel, ViaSat, HNS/EchoStar, Hispasat and Arsat;

• in Europe, Middle East, Africa: Avanti, Arabsat, Es’hailsat, Nilesat, Gazprom, Hellas Sat, RSCC, Yahsat, Turksat and Spacecom;

• in Asia: AsiaSat, Measat, Thaicom, APT, PT Telkom, Optus, SKY Perfect JSAT and Asia Broadcast Satellite; and

• in Latin America: Star One, Arsat and Hispamar.

A number of other countries have domestic satellite systems against which Telesat competes in those markets.

The Canadian government opened Canadian satellite markets to foreign satellite operators as part of its 1998 World Trade Organization commitments to liberalize trade in basic telecommunications services. As of January 2018, approximately 90 non-Canadian licensed geostationary satellites and non-geostationary satellite constellations are listed as having been approved for use in Canada. Four of these geostationary satellites are Telesat satellites licensed by other administrations and one is a satellite on which Telesat owns the Canadian-coverage capacity.

In addition, the FSS and the mobile satellite services (“MSS”) sectors, which have historically served distinct customer requirements, are converging. As a result, Telesat faces competition from MSS operators that include Inmarsat, which offers a high throughput Ka-band service using a global constellation of four geostationary satellites. The growth in satellite service providers using or planning to use Ka-band, including Avanti Communications, SES/O3b, ViaSat, Eutelsat, HNS/Echostar, Inmarsat, SES, Yahsat and others, will result in increased competition.

Many of the new and replacement satellites expected to be deployed in the near term will be high throughput satellites (“HTS”) or will include high throughput payloads. In addition, second generation HTS systems recently launched and in development purport to be capable of throughput that substantially exceeds the throughput of first generation HTS. This is expected to result in a significant increase in satellite capacity which may further increase competition.

Over the past two years, a number of non-geostationary orbit (“NGSO”) satellite systems have been announced and are now in various stages of development. These include proposed systems from One Web, SpaceX, Boeing, SES/O3b and LeoSat, among others. In addition, a number of other non-terrestrial systems using drones or balloons have also been announced. As these new systems are deployed they may significantly increase the supply of services that will compete with Telesat’s LEO constellation as well as traditional satellite services.

Terrestrial Service Providers

Providers of terrestrial-based communications services compete with satellite operators. Increasingly, in developed and developing countries alike, governments are providing funding and other incentives to encourage the expansion of terrestrial networks resulting in increased competition for satellite operators.

Consulting Services

The market for satellite consulting services is generally comprised of a few companies qualified to provide advice to governments, satellite operators, spacecraft manufacturers and other industry participants on a range of technical and commercial matters related to satellite communications and earth observation. Telesat’s competitors are primarily United States and European-based companies.