Inmarsat to buy $1.2 bn fleet; Q2 beats view

LONDON, UK: British satellite operator Inmarsat confirmed a $1.2 billion order for a new fleet of satellites on Friday after its second-quarter earnings beat market expectations on higher demand from shipping customers. Inmarsat, whose satellites provide voice, data and broadband services to shipping, aircraft and remote locations, chose Boeing to make the three high-frequency Ka-Band satellites.

The company is investing in the high-frequency Ka-Band satellites to provide very high mobile broadband speeds to serve high-end government and commercial customers, a source told Reuters on Wednesday.

It said on Friday it saw a $1.4 billion opportunity  for new services from the fleet, and would target $500 million of annual revenue five years from launch.

Inmarsat reported core earnings of $168.6 million, up 13.8 percent, on revenue of $289.2 million for the second quarter, up 12.6 percent, both ahead of forecasts.

Analysts expected the company to report core earnings of $153.75 million on revenue of $239.5 million, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of four brokers.

"As a result of our business performance in the first half and the successful launch of our handheld global satellite phone service, we remain on track to deliver solid revenue growth in 2010," the group said.