PLANS by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to launch thousands of satellites into orbit are forcing an industry that’s traditionally wary of mergers to prepare for consolidation. The billions of dollars that Musk is pouring into his Starlink broadband internet service are skewing the economics of space for companies like SES SA, the world’s second biggest satellite operator by sales. The growth of streaming over fiber optic networks threatens another of their mainstays — satellite TV. Takeovers, investments and joint ventures in the industry this year have already surpassed 2020, with more than US$3.6 billion spent on them so far in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “I’m sure everyone’s talking to everyone,” said SES CEO Steve Collar. Space is “essentially a fixed-cost industry, so the scale that’s generated from consolidation can be important financially. And obviously we’ve also seen some disruptors coming into the industry. That can also be a catalyst,” he said. ViaSat Inc. chairman Mark Dankberg said there “certainly is discussion” in the industry about mergers. “One of the reasons for consolidation would be to try to divert more capital funding from broadcast into broadband.” Although industry executives downplay the threat from Musk, they are adapting. Companies such as Inmarsat Holdings Ltd., ViaSat, Eutelsat SA and Telesat LLC plan to launch high-throughput or low-latency satellites to offer their own broadband services to businesses and homes. But each launch is an expensive bet that clients won’t defect to other technologies. Combining forces would make these rollouts more efficient. The United Kingdom’s biggest satellite company, Inmarsat, “is likely to have many interested dance partners,” its CEO Rajeev Suri said about his plans for a new network with similar low-earth orbit technology to Starlink.(SD-Agencies) | 