SES cancels two satellites as providers pull back from GEO

SES has cancelled the IS-41 and IS-44 geostationary (GEO) satellites.

The crafts, due to serve EMEA and Asia, were ordered by Intelsat, which SES acquired last year with Thales Alenia Space as part of Intelsat’s then post-bankruptcy growth plan in 2022.

They disappeared from the company’s list of upcoming launches after it was announced two satellites would be culled as part of fleet rationalization in the May earnings call.

– SES

“SES is optimizing across a larger, more resilient satellite fleet and reducing unnecessary duplication,” an SES spokesperson told reporters. “As part of this normalization, SES is canceling two software‑defined satellite orders while retaining ample flexibility through four others and leveraging existing fleet capacity to ensure seamless, uninterrupted service for customers.”