...July 17, 2023 NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) July 17, 2023--S&P Global Ratings today said that the reflector malfunction on U.S.-based satellite provider Viasat Inc.'s recently launched high-throughput satellite is credit negative since it was a critical component of the company's fixed broadband (about 15% of total revenues) growth strategy. Viasat was experiencing capacity constraints on existing satellites, although it is uncertain if the reflector can be repaired. Viasat-3 was launched to increase the company's transponder capacity to provide faster data speeds to rural broadband customers and better compete with fixed wireless access being deployed by T-Mobile US Inc., SpaceX (as well as other low-earth orbit satellite operators), and Hughes for new customers. Currently, the company is capacity constrained in the U.S. and has been losing subscribers. Our projections included an assumption that Viasat would return to modest subscriber growth over the next two years (5,000¡10,000 per...
