As federal agencies look at building SATCOM for the future, they must consider diversity.

ST Engineering marked its ground-segment champion to a floor and opened a strategic review. Here's what a buyer would actually get — and what it's worth.

Collaboration introduces a flexible ground architecture that enhances efficiency, enables multi‑orbit operations, and supports operators’ modernization strategies across the region HERNDON, Va., Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ST Engineering iDirect, a leader in satellite communications, is powering leading satcom integrator and service provider Datacom with its Intuition ground system, enabling Datacom to deliver cloud‑native services […]

ST Engineering iDirect collaborates with Datacom to enhance satellite services across Asia-Pacific with its advanced cloud-native ground system Intuition.

The iQ200 satellite modem and related iDirect terminals run with a built-in low‑privilege user account that can be used to gain full control of the device.

ST Engineering iDirect has introduced advanced AI capabilities to its Foresight platform, enhancing satellite operations. This aims to streamline processes, improve compliance, and foster automation in a complex environment.

ICS Advisory Project The ICS Advisory Project is an open-source project that provides the Critical Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ICS Advisories, visualized as a Dashboard and in Comma-Separat...

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ST Engineering iDirect has revealed its INT3000 modem, showcasing cutting-edge 5G NR-NTN technology at the ESA 5G Forum, marking progress in satellite communications.

In this deep dive 01Two prices, one industry02What Rocket Lab actually bought03What the ground segment is worth04The forced seller05Who gets bought next06The Viasat wildcard07What kills deals now08What to watch09Method and sourcing Disclosure The author was Senior Director, Enterprise Broadband Services at Viasat from 2016 to 2024. Viasat is discussed in section 06. No position is held in any company named here. Deep Dive · Mergers and Acquisitions Free for subscribers # Who Gets Bought Next in Satellite M&A. One Seller Has Already Told You. Rocket Lab is paying roughly sixteen times earnings for Iridium. Gilat is paying roughly nine for Comtech's ground business. Same industry, six weeks apart. That gap is the sorting mechanism, and it says exactly which assets change hands next. **Glenn Canales** · Satellite Insights Weekly · 4 August 2026 · 14 min read ~16.5× Iridium enterprise value to 2026 operational EBITDA guidance, at the announced deal price (29 Jun 2026) ~9.4× Comtech Satellite and Space price to trailing twelve-month adjusted EBITDA, at the announced deal price (15 Jun 2026) 80% Share of iDirect's carrying value written off by ST Engineering in a single impairment (12 Nov 2025) $1.5B Hughes note that matured 1 Aug 2026 against $102M of cash. Chapter 11 petitions filed the next day. 01 · Two prices, one industry Three satellite businesses changed hands or went to court this summer. Rocket Lab agreed to buy Iridium. Gilat agreed to buy most of Comtech's Satellite and Space Communications segment. Hughes Network Systems, the satellite operating business inside EchoStar, filed for Chapter 11 on 2 August. Covered as a group, they read as one story about consolidation. Priced as a group, they are two entirely different stories, and the distance between them is the most useful number in the sector right now. Rocket Lab's offer values Iridium at roughly $8.0 billion in enterprise value against 2026 operational EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) guidance of $480 million to $490 million. Call it sixteen and a half times. Gilat is paying $157.5 million in cash for a Comtech unit that produced $195.2 million of revenue and $16.8 million of adjusted EBITDA in the twelve months to 31 January 2026. Call it nine and a half. Both are satellite communications businesses. Both were priced by sophisticated buyers inside six weeks. One cleared at nearly double the other. ## Who is the most likely next satellite company to be sold? **ST Engineering iDirect.** It is the only sizable asset in commercial satcom with a confirmed seller, a published reserve price and no announced buyer. In November 2025, ST Engineering wrote iDirect's carrying value down from S$837 million to a value-in-use of S$170 million, roughly $133 million at current exchange rates, and told the market it was in active discussions on strategic options including divestment. Nine months later there is still no signed agreement, and the disclosure language has not changed. Every other name on the industry's who-is-next lists is inference. iDirect is a live process with a number attached to it, disclosed by the seller, in a public filing. That is the near-term answer. The larger transaction nobody is pricing properly sits at Viasat, where an activist-driven Strategic Review Committee has spent since May 2026 weighing whether to separate the government business from the commercial one. A separation is being debated as a value-unlock question. It is also, mechanically, how you turn one company that is difficult to buy into two companies that are not. The rest of this piece works through what each of those prices actually bought, why the ground segment is clearing at single digits while spectrum clears at sixteen, what a bankruptcy court rather than a banker will do to Hughes, and which assets sit next in line. It closes on the constraint that now kills more satellite deals than antitrust ever has, which is not competition policy at all. Subscriber content · Free ## The remaining eight sections are for subscribers. No payment, no card. An email address unlocks the full deep dive and every edition after it. If you already have an account, sign in and the rest of the page opens where you are. * 02What Rocket Lab actually bought * 03What the ground segment is worth * 04The forced seller * 05Who gets bought next, ranked * 06The Viasat wildcard * 07What kills deals now * 08What to watch * 09Method and sourcing Sign up free to keep reading Independent weekly intelligence on the satellite communications sector. No hype. A point of view. Unsubscribe in one click. * * * ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

In this deep dive 01Two prices, one industry02What Rocket Lab actually bought03What the ground segment is worth04The forced seller05Who gets bought next06The Viasat wildcard07What kills deals now08What to watch09Method and sourcing Disclosure The author was Senior Director, Enterprise Broadband Services at Viasat from 2016 to 2024. Viasat is discussed in section 06. No position is held in any company named here. Deep Dive · Mergers and Acquisitions Free for subscribers # Who Gets Bought Next in Satellite M&A. One Seller Has Already Told You. Rocket Lab is paying roughly sixteen times earnings for Iridium. Gilat is paying roughly nine for Comtech's ground business. Same industry, six weeks apart. That gap is the sorting mechanism, and it says exactly which assets change hands next. **Glenn Canales** · Satellite Insights Weekly · 4 August 2026 · 14 min read ~16.5× Iridium enterprise value to 2026 operational EBITDA guidance, at the announced deal price (29 Jun 2026) ~9.4× Comtech Satellite and Space price to trailing twelve-month adjusted EBITDA, at the announced deal price (15 Jun 2026) 80% Share of iDirect's carrying value written off by ST Engineering in a single impairment (12 Nov 2025) $1.5B Hughes note that matured 1 Aug 2026 against $102M of cash. Chapter 11 petitions filed the next day. 01 · Two prices, one industry Three satellite businesses changed hands or went to court this summer. Rocket Lab agreed to buy Iridium. Gilat agreed to buy most of Comtech's Satellite and Space Communications segment. Hughes Network Systems, the satellite operating business inside EchoStar, filed for Chapter 11 on 2 August. Covered as a group, they read as one story about consolidation. Priced as a group, they are two entirely different stories, and the distance between them is the most useful number in the sector right now. Rocket Lab's offer values Iridium at roughly $8.0 billion in enterprise value against 2026 operational EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) guidance of $480 million to $490 million. Call it sixteen and a half times. Gilat is paying $157.5 million in cash for a Comtech unit that produced $195.2 million of revenue and $16.8 million of adjusted EBITDA in the twelve months to 31 January 2026. Call it nine and a half. Both are satellite communications businesses. Both were priced by sophisticated buyers inside six weeks. One cleared at nearly double the other. ## Who is the most likely next satellite company to be sold? **ST Engineering iDirect.** It is the only sizable asset in commercial satcom with a confirmed seller, a published reserve price and no announced buyer. In November 2025, ST Engineering wrote iDirect's carrying value down from S$837 million to a value-in-use of S$170 million, roughly $133 million at current exchange rates, and told the market it was in active discussions on strategic options including divestment. Nine months later there is still no signed agreement, and the disclosure language has not changed. Every other name on the industry's who-is-next lists is inference. iDirect is a live process with a number attached to it, disclosed by the seller, in a public filing. That is the near-term answer. The larger transaction nobody is pricing properly sits at Viasat, where an activist-driven Strategic Review Committee has spent since May 2026 weighing whether to separate the government business from the commercial one. A separation is being debated as a value-unlock question. It is also, mechanically, how you turn one company that is difficult to buy into two companies that are not. The rest of this piece works through what each of those prices actually bought, why the ground segment is clearing at single digits while spectrum clears at sixteen, what a bankruptcy court rather than a banker will do to Hughes, and which assets sit next in line. It closes on the constraint that now kills more satellite deals than antitrust ever has, which is not competition policy at all. Subscriber content · Free ## The remaining eight sections are for subscribers. No payment, no card. An email address unlocks the full deep dive and every edition after it. If you already have an account, sign in and the rest of the page opens where you are. * 02What Rocket Lab actually bought * 03What the ground segment is worth * 04The forced seller * 05Who gets bought next, ranked * 06The Viasat wildcard * 07What kills deals now * 08What to watch * 09Method and sourcing Sign up free to keep reading Independent weekly intelligence on the satellite communications sector. No hype. A point of view. Unsubscribe in one click. * * * ### This post is for subscribers only Become a member to get access to all content Subscribe now

ST Engineering iDirect Secures Strategic Defense Contracts Across Asia and Europe

ST Engineering iDirect announces significant government and defense awards in Asia and Europe, highlighting advanced satellite communication technology in operation.