UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

OR

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 20152016

OR

OR

Commission file number: 001-35878

INTELSAT S.A.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

N/A

(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

4 rue Albert Borschette

Luxembourg

Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg

L-1246

(Address of principal executive offices)

Michelle V. Bryan, Esq.

Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer

Intelsat S.A.

4, rue Albert Borschette

L-1246 Luxembourg

Telephone: +352 27-84-1600

Fax: +352 27-84-1690

(Name, Telephone, E-Mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act:

None

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the Annual Report.

118,028,651 common shares, nominal value $0.01 per share

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes    ¨☐    No  x☒

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    Yes    ¨☐    No  x☒

Note—checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those Sections.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x☒    No  ¨☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  x☒    No  ¨☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act (Check one):

Large accelerated filer  ¨☐                 Accelerated Filer  x☒                Non-accelerated filer  ¨☐

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.  Item  17  ¨☐    Item  18  ¨

☐

If this is an Annual Report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ¨☐    No  x☒

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some of the statements in this Annual Report on Form 20-F, or Annual Report, and oral statements made from time to time by our representatives constitute forward-looking statements that do not directly or exclusively relate to historical facts. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor” for certain forward-looking statements as long as they are identified as forward-looking and are accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.

When used in this Annual Report, the words “may,” “will,” “ might,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “project,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “intend,” “potential,” “outlook” and “continue,” and the negative of these terms, and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. Examples of these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the following: our statements regarding certain plans, expectations, goals, projections, and beliefs about the benefits of the proposed transactions, the transactions parties’ plans, objectives, expectations and intentions, and the expected timing of completion of the proposed transactions; our belief that the growing worldwide demand for reliable bandwidth,broadband connectivity everywhere at all times, together with our leadership position in our attractive sector, global scale, efficient operating and financial profile, diversified customer sets and sizeable contracted backlog, provide us with a platform for long-term success; our belief that the new and differentiated capacity of our next generation Intelsat Epic^NG satellites will in the future provide inventory to help offset the relatively lower levelrecent trends of business activity expectedpricing pressure in our network services sectorbusiness; our outlook that the increased volume of services provided by our Intelsat Epic^NG fleet is expected to stabilize business activity in the near to mid-term;network services sector; our expectation that over time new demand for capacity to support the new 4K format, also known as ultra-high definition, could compensate for reductions in demand related to use of new compression technologies in our media business; our beliefexpectation that building infrastructure, introducing services and investingour investment in related technologya new generation of ground hardware will allow ussimplify access to address sectors that aresatellite communications, potentially opening much larger and faster growing much faster,sectors than the sectors we support today;those traditionally served by our industry; our belief that our efficient operating structure and our strategies will position us to continue to deliver high operating margins; our belief that as we place into servicethe continued deployment of our next generation capacity starting in 2016, we2017 will have increasedincrease opportunity to generate organic revenue growth;capture growth from new applications and meet the demand for evolving customer requirements; our expectation that we will not replace our existing fleet of approximately 50 satellites on a one-for-one basis; our expectation that our cost per bit deliverednext generation investment strategy, which includes the deployment of space and terrestrial network elements, will decrease significantly with our Intelsat Epic^NG satellites, the number of station-kept satellites we maintain in our fleet will decline over the course of a 15 year cycle, our capital expenditure efficiency will thereby be enhanced over time, our competitiveness with existing applications will improve, the value we can provide to customers will increase, and that these improvements will also allow us to expand our addressable market into new fixeddeliver high performance bandwith while improving unit costs through efficiency and mobile broadband applications; the expectation that our investing in a new generation of ground hardware will simplifysimplified access to satellite communications, potentially opening much larger and faster growing sectors than those traditionally served by our industry; our expectation that our development partnership with Kymeta Inc. will result in an affordable, flat antenna that could be installed in the automotive sector, enabling connected cars on a global basis;basis as well as other mobility applications; our belief that our investment in Phasor will result in antenna technology that has a form factor to support broadband communications for the business jet sector that will enhance the transformation of our capabilities; our expectation that our investment in OneWeb will result in a low earth orbit platform that will complement our geostationary orbit satellite services;fleet by providing fully interoperable global capacity, as well as low-latency offerings for certain segments; our expectations of pricing for our services in the future; our ability to efficiently incorporate new technologies into our network to capture growth; our intention to maximize our revenues and returns generated by our assets by developing and managing our capacity in a disciplined and efficient manner; our projection that our government business will benefit from the increasing demands for mobility services from the U.S. government for aeronautical and ground mobile requirements; our intention to leverage our satellite launches and orbital rights to supply specialized capabilities for certain customers; the trends we believe will increase demand for satellite services and that we believe will allow us to capture new business opportunities in the future; our intent to consider select acquisitions of complementary businesses or technology;technologies that enhance our product and geographic portfolio; our belief that developing differentiated services and investing in new technology will allow us to unlock opportunities that are essential, but have been slow to develop due to cost and/or technology challenges; the trends that we believe will impact our revenue and operating expenses in the future; our assessments regarding how long satellites that have experienced anomalies in the past should be able to provide service on their transponders; our assessment of the riskrisks of additionalfuture anomalies occurring on our satellites; our expectation that certain anomalies will not result in the acceleration of capital expenditures; our plans for satellite launches in the near term;near-term; our expected capital expenditures in 20162017 and during the next several years; our belief that the diversity of our revenue and customer base allows us to recognize trends, capture new growth opportunities, and gain experience that can be

transferred to customers in other regions; our belief that the scale of our fleet can reduce the financial impact of any satellite or launch failures and protect against service interruption; and the impact on our financial position or results of operations of pending legal proceedings.

Forward-looking statements reflect our intentions, plans, expectations, anticipations, projections, estimations, predictions, outlook, assumptions and beliefs about future events. These forward-looking statements speak only as of their dates and are not guarantees of future performance or results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control. These factors could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements and include known and unknown risks. Known risks include, among others, the risks discussed in Item 3D—Risk Factors, the political, economic and legal conditions in the markets we are targeting for communications services or in which we operate and other risks and uncertainties inherent in the telecommunications business in general and the satellite communications business in particular.

Other factors that may cause results or developments to differ materially from historical results or developments or the forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report include, but are not limited to:

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee our future results, level of activity, performance or achievements. Because actual results could differ materially from our intentions, plans, expectations, anticipations, projections, estimations, predictions, outlook, assumptions and beliefs about the future, you are urged not to rely on forward-looking statements in this Annual Report and to view all forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report with caution. We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

INDUSTRY AND MARKET DATA

This Annual Report includes information with respect to regional and sector share and industry conditions from third-party sources, public filings and based upon our estimates using such sources when available. While we believe that such information and estimates are reasonable and reliable, we have not independently verified the data from third-party sources, including2223^ndrdSatellite Communications& Broadcasting Markets Survey, Forecasts to 20242025, dated September 2015, byEuroconsult; Satellite Pay-TV: Key Economics and Prospects,dated December 2014,2016, by Euroconsult; Global Satellite Capacity Supply and Demand Study, 12th13^th Edition, dated July 2015,2016, by NSR; Government and Military Satellite Communications, 1213^th Edition, dated September 2015,November 2016, by NSR; Wireless Backhaul via Satellite, 910^thEdition, dated April 2015,March 2016, by NSR;Pyramid Research Fixed Communications Demand—Africa & Middle East, dated December 2015,2016, and Pyramid Research Fixed Communications Demand—Latin America, dated December 2015, andContribution and Occasional Use TV Markets, 2^nd Edition, dated December 2014, by NSR.2016. Unless otherwise specified, all references contained in this Annual Report to these third-party sources are as of the dates of these sources stated above. Similarly, our internal research is based upon our understanding of industry conditions, and such information has not been verified by independent sources. Specifically, when we refer to the relative size, regions served, number of customers contracted, experience and financial performance of our business as compared to other companies in our sector, our assertions are based upon public filings of other operators and comparisons provided by third-party sources, as outlined above.

Throughout this Annual Report, unless otherwise indicated, references to market positions are based on third-party market research. If a regional position or statement as to industry conditions is based on internal research, it is identified as management’s belief. Throughout this Annual Report, unless otherwise indicated, statements as to our relative positions as a provider of services to customers and regions are based upon our relative share. For additional information regarding our regional share with respect to our customer sets, services and regions, and the bases upon which we determine our share, see Item 4B—Business Overview.

PART I

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

In this Annual Report unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, (1) the terms “we,” “us,” “our,” “the Company” and “Intelsat” refer to Intelsat S.A., and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis, (2) the term “Intelsat Holdings” refers to our indirect subsidiary, Intelsat Holdings S.A., (3) the term “Intelsat Investments” refers to Intelsat Investments S.A., Intelsat Holding’sHoldings’ direct wholly-owned subsidiary, (4) the term “Intelsat Luxembourg” refers to Intelsat (Luxembourg) S.A., Intelsat Investments S.A.’sInvestments’ direct wholly-owned subsidiary, (5) the terms “Intelsat Connect” and “ICF” refer to Intelsat Connect Finance S.A., Intelsat Luxembourg’s direct wholly-owned subsidiary, (6) the term “Intelsat Jackson” refers to Intelsat Jackson Holdings S.A., Intelsat (Luxembourg) S.A.’sConnect’s direct wholly-owned subsidiary, and (6)(7) the term “IS-        ”“Intelsat” refers to specific Intelsat-         satellites.Intelsat-satellites. We refer to Intelsat General Corporation, one of our subsidiaries, as “Intelsat General.” Capitalized terms used but not defined under the heading “Risks Relating to the Transactions” below have the meanings assigned to such terms under the heading “Item 4B – Business Overview – Recent Developments.” In this Annual Report, unless the context otherwise requires, all references to transponder capacity or demand refer to transponder capacity or demand in the C-band and Ku-band only.

A. Selected Financial Data

The following selected historical consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with, and is qualified by reference to, Item 5—Operating and Financial Review and Prospects and our audited consolidated financial statements and their notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The consolidated statement of operations data and consolidated cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2015,2016, and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 20142015 and 20152016 have been derived from audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The consolidated statement of operations data and consolidated cash flow data for the years ended December 31, 20112012 and 20122013 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2011, 2012 and 2013 have been derived from audited consolidated financial statements that are not included in this Annual Report.

B.	Capitalization and Indebtedness

		Year Ended December 31,
		2012				2013				2014				2015				2016
		(in thousands, except share and per share amounts)
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data
Cash and cash equivalents, net of restricted cash		$	187,485			$	247,790			$	123,147			$	171,541			$	666,024
Satellites and other property and equipment, net			6,355,192				5,805,540				5,880,264				5,998,317				6,185,842
Total assets			17,067,705				16,408,217				16,326,434				12,253,590				12,942,009
Total debt			15,706,053				15,105,961				14,668,221				14,611,379				14,198,084
Shareholders’ deficit			(1,357,760	)			(975,353	)			(776,268	)			(4,649,565	)			(3,634,145	)
Net assets			(1,312,090	)			(934,667	)			(742,567	)			(4,620,353	)			(3,609,998	)
Number of common shares (in millions)			83.2				106.0				106.7				107.6				118.0
Number of 5.75% series A mandatory convertible junior non-voting preferred shares (in millions)			—				3.5				3.5				3.5				—

B. Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D. Risk Factors

The risks described below are not the only ones that we may face. Additional risks that are not currently known to us or that we currently consider immaterial may also impair our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Risk Factors Relating to Our Business

We are subject to significant competition from within the FSSfixed satellite services (“FSS”) sector, from alternative satellite service providers and from other providers of communications capacity, such as fiber optic cable capacity. Competition from other telecommunications providers could have a material adverse effect on our business and could prevent us from implementing our business strategy and expanding our operations as planned.

We face significant competition in the fixed satellite services (“FSS”)FSS sector in different regions around the world. We compete against other satellite operators and against suppliers of ground-based communications capacity. The increasing availability of satellite capacity and capacity from other forms of communications technology has historically created an excess supply of telecommunications capacity in certain regions from time to time. We believe such an imbalance could again occur in certain regions, particularly as we and other operators begin to introduce next generation high-throughput satellite technology to our fleets. Additionally, there is emerging interest from new entrants to launch new constellations in different orbits that could potentially compete with portions of our business. Increased competition in the FSS sector could lower prices, which could reduce our operating margins and the cash available to fund our operations and service our debt obligations. In addition, there has been a trend toward consolidation of major FSS providers as customers increasingly demand more robust distribution platforms with network redundancies and worldwide reach, and we expect to face increased competition as a result of this trend. Our direct competitors are likely to continue developing and launching satellites with greater power and more transponders, which may create satellite capacity at lower costs. In order to compete effectively, we invest in similar technology.

We also believe that there are many companies that are seeking ways to improve the ability of existing land-based infrastructure, such as fiber optic cable, to transmit signals. Any significant improvement or increase in the amount of land-based capacity, particularly with respect to the existing fiber optic cable infrastructure and point-to-point applications, may cause our video and network services customers to shift their transmissions to land-based capacity or make it more difficult for us to obtain new customers. If fiber optic cable networks or other ground-based high-capacity transmission systems are available to service a particular point, that capacity, when available, is generally less expensive than satellite capacity. As land-based telecommunications services expand, demand for some satellite-based services may be reduced.

In addition, we face challenges to our business apart from these industry trends that our competition may not face. A portion of our revenue has historically been derived from channel services, and from other point-to-point services which comprise a portion of our transponder services. Because fiber optic cable capacity is generally available at lower prices than satellite capacity, competition from fiber optic cable providers has historically caused a migration of our point-to-point customers from satellite to fiber optic cable on certain routes, resulting in erosion in our revenue from point-to-point services over the last ten years. Some other FSS operators have service mixes that are less weighted towards point-to-point connectivity than our current service mix. We have been addressing this erosion and sustaining our business by expanding our customer base in point-to-multipoint services, such as video, and growing our presence in serving wireless communications providers and the mobility sector.

Failure to compete effectively with other FSS operators and to adapt to new competition and new technologies or failure to implement our business strategy while maintaining our existing business could result in a loss of revenue and a decline in profitability, a decrease in the value of our business and a downgrade of our credit ratings, which could restrict our access to the capital markets.

The market for fixed satellite servicesFSS may not grow or may shrink, and therefore we may not be able to attract new customers, retain our existing customers or implement our strategies to grow our business. In addition, pricing pressures may have an adverse impact on FSS sector revenue.

The FSS sector, as a whole, has experienced growth over the past few years. However, the future market for FSS may not grow or may shrink. Competing technologies, such as fiber optic cable, are continuingcontinue to adversely affect the point-to-point segment of the

FSS sector. In the point-to-multipoint segment, economic downturns, the transition of video traffic from analog to digital and continuing improvements in compression technology, which allowsallow for improved transmission efficiency, have negatively impacted demand for certain fixed satellite services. Developments that we expect to support the growth of the satellite services industry, such as continued growth in data traffic and the proliferation of direct-to-home (“DTH”) platforms, high definition television (“HDTV”) and niche programming, may fail to materialize or may not occur in the manner or to the extent we anticipate. Any of these industry dynamics could negatively affect our operations and financial condition.

Because the market for FSS may not grow or may shrink, we may not be able to attract customers for the services that we are providing as part of our strategy to sustain and grow our business. Reduced growth in the FSS sector may also adversely affect our ability to retain our existing customers. A shrinking market could reduce the number and value of our customer contracts and would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, there could be a substantial negative impact on our credit ratings and our ability to access the capital markets.

The FSS sector has in the past, experienced periods of pricing pressures that have resulted in reduced revenues of FSS operators. Current pricing pressures and potential pricing pressures in the future could have a significant negative impact on our revenues and financial condition.

Our financial condition could be materially and adversely affected if we were to suffer a satellite loss that is not adequately covered by insurance.

We currently carry in-orbit insurance only with respect to a small portion of our satellite fleet, generally for a short period of time following launch. As of December 31, 2015, four of the satellites in our fleet were covered by in-orbit insurance. Amounts recoverable from in-orbit insurance coverage may initially be comparable to amounts recoverable with respect to launch insurance coverage; however, such amounts generally decrease over time and are typically based on the declining book value of the satellite.

As our satellite insurance policies expire, we may elect to reduce or eliminate insurance coverage relating to certain of our satellites to the extent permitted by our debt agreements if, in our view, exclusions make such policies ineffective or the costs of coverage make such insurance impractical and we believe that we can more reasonably protect our business through the use of in-orbit spare satellites, backup transponders and self-insurance. A partial or complete failure of a revenue-producing satellite, whether insured or not, could require additional, unplanned capital expenditures, an acceleration of planned capital expenditures, interruptions in service, a reduction in contracted backlog and lost revenue and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not currently insure against lost revenue in the event of total or partial loss of a satellite.

We also maintain third-party liability insurance on our satellites to cover damage caused by our satellites. As of December 31, 2015, certain satellites in our fleet were covered by third-party liability insurance. This insurance, however, may not be adequate or available to cover all third-party liability damages that may be caused by any of our satellites, and we may not in the future be able to renew our third-party liability coverage on reasonable terms and conditions, if at all.

We have a substantial amount of indebtedness, which may adversely affect our cash flow and our ability to operate our business, remain in compliance with debt covenants and make payments on our indebtedness.

As of December 31, 2015,2016, on a consolidated basis, we had approximately $14.7$14.5 billion principal amount of third-party indebtedness outstanding, approximately $3.1$4.9 billion of which was secured debt. On a pro forma

basis, after giving effect to certain debt exchange transactions completed in December 2016 and January 2017, we had approximately $14.5 billion principal amount of third-party indebtedness outstanding on a consolidated basis. Our subsidiaries were the issuers or borrowers of this debt as follows: (a) Intelsat (Luxembourg) S.A. (“Intelsat Luxembourg”), had approximately $14.7$14.5 billion principal amount of total third-party indebtedness outstanding on a consolidated basis, approximately $3.1$4.9 billion of which was secured debt, (b) Intelsat Connect Finance S.A. (“ICF”), had approximately $731.9 million principal amount of total third-party indebtedness outstanding on a stand-alone basis, and (b)(c) Intelsat Jackson Holdings S.A. (“Intelsat Jackson”), had approximately $11.2$11.8 billion principal amount of total third-party indebtedness outstanding on a consolidated basis, approximately $3.1$4.9 billion of which was secured debt. Intelsat Luxembourg debt, ICF debt and Intelsat Jackson debt are included in our consolidated debt.

The indentures and credit agreements governing a substantial portion of the outstanding debt of Intelsat Luxembourg, ICF and Intelsat Jackson and their respective subsidiaries permit each of these companies to make payments to their respective direct and indirect parent companies to fund the cash interest payments on such indebtedness, so long as no default or event of default shall have occurred and be continuing or would occur as a consequence thereof.

Our substantial indebtedness could have important consequences. For example, it could:

Any of the factors listed above could materially and adversely affect our business and our results of operations. Furthermore, our interest expense could increase if interest rates rise because certain portions of our debt bear interest at floating rates. Our interest expense could also increase when we refinance debt. If we do not have sufficient cash flow to service our debt, we may be required to refinance all or part of our existing debt, sell assets, borrow more money or sell securities, none of which we can guarantee we will be able to do.

We may be able to incur significant additional indebtedness in the future. Although the agreements governing our indebtedness contain restrictions on the incurrence of certain additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of important qualifications and exceptions, and the indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. If we incur new indebtedness, the related risks, including those described above, could intensify.

To service our third-party indebtedness, we will require a significant amount of cash. Our ability to generate cash depends on many factors beyond our control, and any failure to meet our third-party debt service obligations could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

On a pro forma basis, after giving effect to certain debt exchange transactions completed in December 2016 and January 2017, our estimated payment obligations with respect to third-party indebtedness (i.e., not held by ICF or any of our other subsidiaries) for 2017, comprise approximately $996 million of interest payments, excluding payments related to satellite performance incentives due to satellite manufacturers. Of this amount, $748 million is attributable to Intelsat Jackson, $158 million is attributable to Intelsat Luxembourg and $90 million is attributable to Intelsat Connect.

Our ability to satisfy our debt obligations will depend principally upon our future operating performance. As a result, prevailing economic conditions and financial, business and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, will affect our ability to make payments on our indebtedness. If we do not generate sufficient cash flow from operations to satisfy our debt service obligations, or if our subsidiaries are prohibited from paying dividends or making distributions because of restrictions in the agreements governing their indebtedness or otherwise, we may have to pursue alternative financing plans, such as refinancing or restructuring our indebtedness, selling assets, reducing or delaying capital investments or seeking to raise additional capital. Our ability to refinance or restructure our debt will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. Any refinancing of our debt could be at higher interest rates and may require us to comply with more onerous covenants, which could further restrict our business operations. In addition, the terms of our and our subsidiaries’ existing or future debt instruments, including the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement and the indentures governing Intelsat Luxembourg’s, Intelsat Jackson’s and ICF’s outstanding notes, may restrict us from adopting some of these alternatives. Furthermore, the Sponsors (as defined below in Item 4A—History and Development of the Company—The Sponsors Acquisition Transactions) have no obligation to provide us with debt or equity financing in the future. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt service obligations, or to refinance our obligations on commercially reasonable terms would have an adverse effect, which could be material, on our business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

The terms of the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement, the indentures governing our existing notes and the terms of our other indebtedness may restrict our current and future operations, particularly our ability to respond to changes in our business or to take certain actions.

On January 12, 2011, Intelsat Jackson, our wholly-owned subsidiary, entered into a secured credit agreement (as amended, the “Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement”). The Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement, the indentures governing our existing notes and the terms of our other outstanding indebtedness contain, and any future indebtedness of ours would likely contain, a number of restrictive covenants imposing significant operating and financial restrictions on Intelsat S.A. and some or all of its subsidiaries, including restrictions that may limit our ability to engage in acts that may be in our long-term best interests. The Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement includes two financial covenants. Intelsat Jackson must maintain a consolidated secured debt to consolidated EBITDA ratio of less than or equal to 3.50 to 1.00 at the end of each fiscal quarter as well as a consolidated EBITDA to consolidated interest expense ratio of greater than or equal to 1.75 to 1.00 at the end of each fiscal quarter, in each case as such financial measures are defined in the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement.

In addition, the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement requires Intelsat Jackson to use a portion of the proceeds of certain asset sales, in excess of a specified amount, that are not reinvested in its business to repay indebtedness under the agreement.

The Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement, the indentures governing our existing notes and the terms of our other outstanding indebtedness include covenants restricting, among other things, the ability of Intelsat S.A. and its subsidiaries to:

These covenants are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions. The operating and financial restrictions and covenants in our existing debt agreements and any future financing agreements may adversely affect our ability to finance future operations or capital needs or to engage in other business activities. A breach of any of the restrictive covenants in the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement could result in a default under such agreement. If any such default occurs, the lenders under the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement may elect to declare all outstanding borrowings, together with accrued interest and other fees, to be immediately due and payable, enforce their security interest or require us to apply all available cash to repay these borrowings. If this occurred under the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement, this would result in an event of default under our existing notes. The lenders under the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement will also have the right in these circumstances to terminate any

commitments they have to fund further borrowings. If Intelsat Jackson were unable to repay outstanding borrowings when due, the lenders under the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement would have the right to proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure the debt owed to them. If the debt under the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement were to be accelerated, our assets might not be sufficient to repay such debt in full or to repay our notes and our other debt.

Our business is capital intensive and requires us to make long-term capital expenditure decisions, and we may not be able to raise adequate capital to finance our business strategies, or we may be able to do so only on terms that significantly restrict our ability to operate our business.

Implementation of our business strategy requires a substantial outlay of capital. As we pursue our business strategies and seek to respond to opportunities and trends in our industry, our actual capital expenditures may differ from our expected capital expenditures and there can be no assurance that we will be able to satisfy our capital requirements in the future. The nature of our business also requires us to make capital expenditure decisions in anticipation of customer demand, and we may not be able to correctly predict customer demand. We have only a fixed amount of transponder capacity available to serve a particular region. If our customer demand exceeds our transponder capacity, we may not be able to fully capture the growth in demand in the region served by that capacity. We currently expect that our liquidity requirements in 20162017 will be satisfied by cash on hand and cash generated from our operations, and borrowings under our revolving credit facility.operations. However, if we determine we need to obtain additional funds through external financing and are unable to do so, we may be prevented from fully implementing our business strategy.

The availability and cost to us of external financing depend on a number of factors, including general market conditions, our financial performance and our credit rating. Both our credit rating and our ability to obtain financing generally may be influenced by the supply and demand characteristics of the telecommunications sector in general and of the FSS sector in particular. Declines in our expected future revenue under contracts with customers and challenging business conditions faced by our customers are among factors that may adversely affect our credit. Other factors that could impact our credit include the amount of debt in our current capital structure, activities associated with our strategic initiatives, our expected future cash flows and the capital expenditures required to execute our business strategy. The overall impact on our financial condition of any transaction that we pursue may be negative or may be negatively perceived by the financial markets and ratings agencies and may result in adverse rating agency actions with respect to our credit rating. A disruption in the capital markets, a deterioration in our financial performance or a credit rating downgrade could limit our ability to obtain financing or could result in any such financing being available only at greater cost or on more restrictive terms than might otherwise be available. Our debt agreements also impose restrictions on our

operation of our business and could make it more difficult for us to obtain further external financing if required. See—The terms of the Intelsat Jackson Secured Credit Agreement, the indentures governing our existing notes and the terms of our other indebtedness may restrict our current and future operations, particularly our ability to respond to changes in our business or to take certain actions.

Long-term disruptions in the capital and credit markets as a result of uncertainty due to recent recessions, changing or increased regulation or failures of significant financial institutions could adversely affect our access to capital. If financial market disruptions intensify, it may become difficult for us to raise additional capital or refinance debt when needed, on acceptable terms or at all. Any disruption could require us to take measures to conserve cash until the markets stabilize or until alternative credit arrangements or other funding for our business needs can be arranged. Such measures could include deferring capital expenditures and reducing or eliminating other discretionary uses of cash, which could adversely impact our business and our ability to execute our business strategies.

Our financial condition could be materially and adversely affected if we were to suffer a satellite loss that is not adequately covered by insurance.

We currently carry in-orbit insurance only with respect to a small portion of our satellite fleet, generally for a short period of time following launch. As of December 31, 2016, four of the approximately 50 satellites in our fleet were covered by in-orbit insurance. Amounts recoverable from in-orbit insurance coverage may initially be comparable to amounts recoverable with respect to launch insurance coverage; however, such amounts generally decrease over time and are typically based on our declining potential repayment obligations with respect to certain customer prepayments made prior to or during the manufacture of certain satellites, or the declining book value of the satellite.

As our satellite insurance policies expire, we may elect to reduce or eliminate insurance coverage relating to certain of our satellites to the extent permitted by our debt agreements if, in our view, exclusions make such policies ineffective or the costs of coverage make such insurance impractical and we believe that we can more reasonably protect our business through the use of in-orbit spare satellites, backup transponders and self-insurance. A partial or complete failure of a revenue-producing satellite, whether insured or not, could require additional, unplanned capital expenditures, an acceleration of planned capital expenditures, interruptions in service, a reduction in contracted backlog and lost revenue and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We do not currently insure against lost revenue in the event of total or partial loss of a satellite.

We also maintain third-party liability insurance on some of our satellites to cover damage caused by our satellites. This insurance, however, may not be adequate or available to cover all third-party liability damages that may be caused by any of our satellites, and we may not in the future be able to renew our third-party liability coverage on reasonable terms and conditions, if at all.

We may become subject to unanticipated tax liabilities that may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Intelsat S.A and certain of its subsidiaries are Luxembourg-based companies and are subject to Luxembourg taxation for corporations. We believe that a significant portion of the income derived from our communications network will not be subject to tax in certain countries in which we own assets or conduct activities or in which our customers are located, including the United States and the United Kingdom. However, this belief is based on the presently anticipated nature and conduct of our business and on our current position under the tax laws of the countries in which we own assets or conduct activities. This position is subject to review and possible challenge by taxing authorities and to possible changes in law that may have a retroactive effect.

In addition, we conduct business with customers and counterparties in multiple countries and jurisdictions. Our overall tax burden is affected by tax legislation in these jurisdictions and the terms of income tax treaties

between these countries and the countries in which our subsidiaries are qualified residents for treaty purposes as in effect from time to time. Tax legislation in these countries and jurisdictions may be amended and treaties are regularly renegotiated by the contracting countries and, in each case, may change. If tax legislation or treaties were to change, we could become subject to additional taxes, including retroactive tax claims or assessments of withholding on amounts payable to us or other taxes assessed at the source, in excess of the taxation we anticipate based on business contracts and practices and the current tax regimes. The extent to which certain taxing jurisdictions may require us to pay tax or to make payments in lieu of tax cannot be determined in advance. Our results of operations could be materially adversely affected if we become subject to a significant amount of unanticipated tax liabilities.

We are subject to political, economic, regulatory and other risks due to the international nature of our operations.

We provide communications services in approximately 200 countries and territories. Accordingly, we may be subject to greater risks than other companies as a result of the international nature of our business operations. We could be harmed financially and operationally by tariffs, taxes, government sanctions and regulatory actions, and other trade barriers that may be imposed on our services, or by political and economic instability in the countries in which we provide services, for instance in countries heavily reliant on revenues from natural resources. If we ever need to pursue legal remedies against our customers or our business partners located outside of Luxembourg, the United States or the United Kingdom, it may be difficult for us to enforce our rights against them depending on their location.

Substantially all of our on-going technical operations are conducted and/or managed in the United States, Luxembourg and Germany. However, providers of satellite launch services, upon which we are reliant to place our satellites into orbit, locate their operations in other countries, including Kazakhstan. Political disruptions in this country could increase the risk of launching the satellites that provide capacity for our operations, which could result in financial harm to us.

Our business is subject to foreign currency risk.

Almost all of our customers pay for our services in U.S. dollars, although we are exposed to some risk related to customers who do not pay in U.S. dollars. Fluctuations in the value of non-U.S. currencies may make payment in U.S. dollars more expensive for our non-U.S. customers, and in certain circumstances, cause us to renegotiate prices or other terms in contracts in order to retain such customers. For instance, our Russian customers and others may face difficulties paying for our services because of recent deterioration in the Russian currency and the relative strength of the U.S. dollar compared to many other currencies. In addition, our non-U.S. customers may have difficulty obtaining U.S. currency and/or remitting payment due to currency exchange controls.

Our Sponsors own a significant amount of our common shares and may have conflicts of interest with us in the future.

Our Sponsors (as defined below in Item 4A—History and Development of the Company—The Sponsors Acquisition Transactions) beneficially ownhold in the aggregate approximately 71%65% of our common shares. By virtue of their share ownership, the Sponsors may be able to influence decisions to enter into any corporate transaction or other matter that requires the approval of shareholders. Additionally, the Sponsors are in the business of making investments in companies and, although they do not currently hold interests in any business that competes directly or indirectly with us, may from time to time acquire and hold interests in businesses that compete with us. The Sponsors may also pursue acquisition opportunities that may be complementary to our business, and, as a result, those acquisition opportunities may not be available to us.

We have several large customers and the loss of, or default by, these customers could materially reduce our revenue and materially adversely affect our business.

A limited number of customers provide a substantial portion of our revenue and contracted backlog. For the year ended December 31, 2015,2016, our ten largest customers and their affiliates represented approximately 29%31% of

our revenue. The loss of, or default by, our larger customers could adversely affect our current and future revenue and operating margins.

Some customers have in the past defaulted and, although we monitor our larger customers’ financial performance and seek deposits, guarantees and other methods of protection against default where possible, our customers may in the future default on their obligations to us due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, operational failure, devaluation of local currency or other reasons. Defaults by any of our larger customers or by a group of smaller customers who, collectively, represent a significant portion of our revenue could adversely affect our revenue, operating margins and cash flows. If our contracted backlog is reduced due to the financial difficulties of our customers, our revenue, operating margins and cash flows would be further negatively impacted.

Reductions or changes in U.S. government spending, including the U.S. defense budget, could reduce our revenue and adversely affect our business.

The U.S. government, through the U.S. Department of Defense and other agencies, is one of our largest customers. Spending authorizations for defense-related and other programs by the U.S. government have fluctuated in the past, and future levels of expenditures and authorizations for these programs may decrease, remain constant or shift to programs in areas where we do not currently provide services. We provide services to the U.S. government and its agencies through contracts that are conditioned upon the continuing availability of Congressional appropriations. Congress usually appropriates funds on a fiscal year basis, even though contract performance may extend over many years. In recent years, there has been a pattern of delays in the finalization and approval of the U.S. government budget, which can create uncertainty over the extent of future U.S. government demand for our services. Furthermore, in light of the current geopolitical situation, with reductions in USU.S. operational presence in Iraq, Afghanistan and potentially the Middle East more generally, there may be additional future declines in the U.S. government’s demand for and use of our services. To the extent the U.S. government and its agencies reduce spending on commercial satellite services, this could adversely affect our revenue and operating margins.

The loss of the services of key personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our executive officers and other members of our senior management have been a critical element of our success. These individuals have substantial experience and expertise in our business and have made significant contributions to its growth and success. We have entered into employment agreements with each of our executive officers, including David McGlade, our Executive Chairman, Stephen Spengler, our Chief Executive Officer, Jacques Kerrest, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Michelle Bryan, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer, Thierry Guillemin, our Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, Kurt Riegelman, our Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing and Michael DeMarco, our Senior Vice President, Operations, and certain targeted retention mechanisms; however, these agreements and mechanisms do not guarantee that these executives will remain with us. The unexpected loss of services of one or more of our executive officers or members of senior management could have a material adverse effect on our business.

We have received letters alleging defaults under certain of our existing indentures. If proved correct, such allegations could materially and adversely impact us.

From May 13 to July 7, 2016, our subsidiary, Intelsat Jackson received four letters (the “Letters”), all of which were publicly disseminated by the authors, from funds affiliated with Aurelius Capital Management, LP (“Aurelius”) that purported to hold outstanding 7.25% Senior Notes due 2020 (the “2020 Notes”) of Intelsat Jackson and from counsel to and affiliates of such funds. We believe that the transactions referenced in the Letters, relating primarily to the third quarter of 2015 and the first two quarters of 2016, were in compliance with all of our debt agreements and applicable law and that allegations to the contrary in the Letters are wrong. However, it should be noted that:

proceedings stemming from the allegations contained in the Letters. However, no assurance can be given that we would prevail in any such legal proceedings.

Risks Relating to the Transactions

The Transactions are subject to a number of conditions, and may not be completed on the terms or timeline currently contemplated, or at all.

The Transactions with OneWeb and SoftBank described inItem 4B – Business Overview – Recent Developments are expected to close late in the third quarter of 2017 and are subject to the completion of certain debt exchange offers, certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. If these conditions are not satisfied or waived, the Transactions will not be consummated. If Intelsat is not able to consummate the exchange offers as described in the Combination Agreement, the Merger may not be consummated. The willingness of the holders of certain of our subsidiaries’ notes to reduce the aggregate principal amount of the notes in the exchange offers may depend in part on the holders’ assessment of the impact of nonconsummation of the Merger on the trading value of those notes, and their assessment of the trading value of the newly issued notes in the event the Merger is consummated. In addition, under certain circumstances, Intelsat or OneWeb may terminate the Combination Agreement if the acquisition has not closed on or prior to February 28, 2018.

As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 20-F, Intelsat has not consummated the exchange offers, and Intelsat may not be able to consummate the exchange offer transactions, in which case the Merger may not be consummated.

We may not realize the anticipated benefits of the Transactions.

The Transactions involve the integration of two companies that have previously operated independently. The integration of our operations with those of OneWeb is expected to result in financial and operational benefits, including increased revenues, cost savings and other synergies. There can be no assurance, however, as to when or the extent to which we will be able to realize these increased revenues, cost savings or other synergies or benefits. Integration may also be difficult, unpredictable, and subject to delay because of possible company culture conflicts. We must integrate or, in some cases, replace or, with respect to OneWeb, develop, numerous systems, including those involving management information, purchasing, accounting and finance, sales, billing, employee benefits, payroll and regulatory compliance, which may be dissimilar. Moreover, we anticipate that we may incur significant expenses in connection with the integration of our business with OneWeb’s, the development of systems for OneWeb and our efforts to realize expected synergies. Difficulties associated with integration could adversely affect the revenues, earnings, cash flows and expenses of Intelsat.

The pendency of the Transactions could adversely affect the business and operations of Intelsat.

In connection with the pending Transactions, some customers or vendors of Intelsat may delay or defer decisions, which could adversely affect the revenues, earnings, cash flows and expenses of Intelsat, regardless of whether the Merger is completed. Similarly, current and prospective employees of Intelsat may experience uncertainty about their future roles with Intelsat following the Transactions, which may materially adversely affect the ability of Intelsat to attract and retain key personnel during the pendency of the Transactions. In addition, due to operating covenants in the Transaction Agreements, Intelsat may be unable (without OneWeb’s or SoftBank’s prior written consent, as applicable), during the pendency of the Transactions, to pursue strategic transactions, undertake significant capital projects, undertake certain significant financing transactions and otherwise pursue other actions, even if such actions would prove beneficial. The risks, and adverse effects, of such disruptions could be exacerbated by a delay in the completion of the Transactions or termination of the Transaction Agreements. These factors could adversely affect the revenues, earnings, cash flows and expenses of Intelsat, regardless of whether the Transactions are completed.

Integrating our business with that of OneWeb may divert our management’s attention away from operations.

The integration of our and OneWeb’s operations, products, and personnel, and the financing and development of the OneWeb business, may place a significant burden on our management and other internal resources. The diversion of management’s attention, and any difficulties encountered in the transition and integration process, could harm our business, financial conditions and operating results.

If Intelsat fails to obtain all required consents and waivers, third parties may terminate or alter existing contracts.

Under certain of Intelsat’s contracts, the Transactions may constitute a change in control, and, therefore, the counterparty may exercise certain rights under the applicable agreement upon the closing of the Transactions. Any such counterparty may request modifications of the applicable agreements as a condition to granting a waiver or consent under such agreement. There is no assurance that such counterparties will not exercise their rights under the agreements, including termination rights where available, that the exercise of any such rights will not result in a material adverse effect or that any modifications of such agreements will not result in a material adverse effect.

The exchange ratio in the Combination Agreement, and the purchase price in the SoftBank Investment, are fixed and will not be adjusted to reflect stock price changes of either Intelsat or OneWeb prior to the consummation of the Transactions.

In the proposed Merger, each OneWeb ordinary share will be converted into the right to receive 66 shares of Intelsat common stock, and the price per share at which SoftBank will purchase shares in the proposed SoftBank Investment is fixed. The exchange ratio and purchase price per share will not be adjusted to reflect stock price changes prior to the consummation of the Transactions.

Intelsat stockholders will be diluted by the Transactions.

The Merger and SoftBank Investment will dilute the ownership position of Intelsat shareholders. Based upon the number of outstanding shares on February 28, 2017, and on the terms of the Transactions as announced on February 28, 2017, upon the consummation of the Transactions including any equity issuances in connection with the exchange offers, we expect that existing Intelsat stockholders will own approximately 19% of the outstanding Intelsat shares.

Failure to consummate the Transactions could adversely affect the stock price and the future business and financial results of Intelsat.

If the Transactions are not completed for any reason, including as a result of the inability of Intelsat to consummate the required debt exchange offers, the ongoing businesses of Intelsat may be adversely affected and,

without realizing any of the benefits of having completed the Transactions, Intelsat will be subject to numerous risks, including the following:

If the Transactions are not consummated, Intelsat cannot assure its stockholders that these risks will not materialize and will not materially affect the business, financial results and stock price of Intelsat.

The failure to obtain required regulatory approvals in a timely manner or any materially burdensome conditions contained in any regulatory approvals could delay or prevent completion of the Transactions and diminish the anticipated benefits of the Transactions.

Completion of the Merger is conditional upon the receipt of certain regulatory approvals in the United States and in other jurisdictions under antitrust laws, foreign investment laws and satellite and earth station licensing requirements.

Although Intelsat and OneWeb have agreed in the Combination Agreement to use their reasonable best efforts to obtain the requisite regulatory approvals, there can be no assurance that the applicable regulatory approvals will be obtained in a timely manner, or at all. The requirement to receive such approvals before the closing of the Transactions could delay the consummation of the Transactions. Any delay in completing the Merger, or any additional conditions imposed in order to obtain regulatory approvals to complete the Transactions, may adversely affect the synergies and other benefits that Intelsat expects to achieve if the Transactions and the integration of the companies’ respective businesses are completed within the expected timeframe, and could result in additional transaction costs, loss of revenue or other effects associated with uncertainty about the Transactions.

Risk Factors Relating to Our Industry

We may experience in-orbit satellite failures or degradations in performance that could impair the commercial performance of our satellites, which could lead to lost revenue, an increase in our cash operating expenses, lower operating income or lost backlog.

Satellites utilize highly complex technology and operate in the harsh environment of space and, accordingly, are subject to significant operational risks while in orbit. These risks include malfunctions, commonly referred to as anomalies, that have occurred in our satellites and the satellites of other operators as a result of:

We have experienced anomalies in each of the categories described above. Although we work closely with the satellite manufacturers to determine and eliminate the cause of these anomalies in new satellites and provide for on-satellite backups for certain critical components to minimize or eliminate service disruptions in the event of failure, we may experience anomalies in the future, whether of the types described above or arising from the failure of other systems or components. These anomalies can manifest themselves in scale from minor reductions of equipment redundancy to marginal reductions in capacity to complete satellite failure. Some of our satellites have experienced significant anomalies in the past and some have components that are now known to be susceptible to similar significant anomalies. Each of these is discussed in Item 4B—Business Overview—Satellite Health and Technology. An on-satellite backup for certain components may not be available upon the occurrence of such an anomaly.

Any single anomaly or series of anomalies could materially and adversely affect our operations, our revenues, our relationships with our current customers and our ability to attract new customers for our satellite services. In particular, future anomalies may result in the loss of individual transponders on a satellite, a group of transponders on that satellite or the entire satellite, depending on the nature of the anomaly and the availability of on-satellite backups. Anomalies and our estimates of their future effects may also cause a reduction of the expected service life of a satellite and contracted backlog. Anomalies may also cause a reduction of the revenue generated by that satellite or the recognition of an impairment loss, and in some circumstances could lead to claims from third parties

for damages, if a satellite experiencing an anomaly were to cause physical damage to another satellite, create interference to the transmissions on another satellite, cause other satellite operators to incur expenses to avoid such physical damage or interference or lower operating income as a result of an impairment charge. Finally, the occurrence of anomalies may adversely affect our ability to insure our satellites at commercially reasonable premiums, if at all. While some anomalies are covered by insurance policies, others are not or may not be covered. See—Risk Factors Relating to Our Business—Our financial condition could be materially and adversely affected if we were to suffer a satellite loss that is not adequately covered by insurance.

Many of the technical problems we have experienced withon our current fleet have been component failures and anomalies. Our IS-804Intelsat 804 satellite experienced a sudden and unexpected electrical power system anomaly that resulted in the total loss of the satellite in January 2005. The IS-804Intelsat 804 satellite was an LM 7000 series satellite, and as of December 31, 2015,2016, we operated one other satellite in the LM 7000 series, IS-805.Intelsat 805. We believe that the IS-804Intelsat 804 satellite failure was most likely caused by a high current event in the battery circuitry triggered by an electrostatic discharge that propagated to cause the sudden failure of the high voltage power system.

Our IS-802Intelsat 802 satellite, which was also an LM 7000 series satellite, experienced a reduction of electrical power capability that resulted in a degraded capability of the satellite in September 2006. A significant subset of transponders on IS-802Intelsat 802 was subsequently reactivated and operated normally until the end of its service life in September 2010, when it was decommissioned. We believe that the IS-802Intelsat 802 anomaly was most likely caused by an electrical short internal to the solar array harness located on the south solar array boom.

Our Galaxy 26 and Galaxy 27 satellites experienced sudden anomalies in their electrical distribution systems that resulted in the loss of control of the satellites and the interruption of customer services on the satellites in June 2008 and November 2004, respectively. We believe the likely root cause of the anomalies is a design flaw that is affected by a number of parameters and in some extreme cases can result in an electrical system anomaly. This design flaw exists on two of our satellites, Galaxy 27 and IS-8. Galaxy 26 was decommissioned in June 2014.

Our Galaxy 15 satellite experienced an anomaly in April 2010 resulting in our inability to command the satellite. We transitioned all media traffic on this satellite to our Galaxy 12 satellite, which was our designated in-orbitin-

orbit spare satellite for the North America region. Galaxy 15 is a Star-2 satellite manufactured by Orbital Sciences Corporation. On December 23, 2010, we recovered command of the spacecraft and subsequently completed diagnostic testing and uploading of software updates that protect against future anomalies of this type. Galaxy 15 continues to provide normal service.

We may also experience additional anomalies relating to the failure of the SCP in our BSS 601 satellite, (IS-26), various anomalies associated with XIPS in our BSS 601 HP satellites or a progressive degradation of the solar arrays in certain of our BSS 702 satellites.

Three of the BSS 601 satellites that we operated in the past, as well as BSS 601 satellites operated by others, have experienced a failure of the primary and backup SCPs. On February 1, 2010, our IS-4Intelsat 4 satellite experienced an anomaly of its backup SCP and was taken out of service. This event did not have a material impact on our operations or financial results. As of December 31, 2015,2016, we operate only one BSS 601 satellite, IS-26.Intelsat 26.

Certain of the BSS 601 HP satellites have experienced various problems associated with their XIPS. We currently operate four BSS 601 HP satellites of this type, three of which have experienced failures of both XIPS and the other has experienced a partial loss of its XIPS. We may in the future experience similar problems associated with XIPS or other propulsion systems on our satellites.

Two of the three BSS 702 HP satellites that we operate, as well as BSS 702 HP satellites of a similar design operated by others, have experienced a progressive degradation of their solar arrays causing a reduction in output power. Along with the manufacturer, we continually monitor the problem to determine its cause and its expected effect. The power reduction may require us to permanently turn off certain transponders on the affected satellites to allow for the continued operation of other transponders, which could result in a loss of revenues, or may result in a reduction of the satellite’s service life. In 2004, based on a review of available data, we reduced our estimate of the service lives of both satellites due to the continued degradation.

On April 22, 2011, our IS-28Intelsat 28 satellite, formerly known as the Intelsat New Dawn satellite, was launched into orbit. Subsequent to the launch, the satellite experienced an anomaly during the deployment of its west antenna reflector, which controls communications in the C-band frequency. The anomaly had not been experienced previously on other STAR satellites manufactured by Orbital Sciences Corporation, including those in our fleet. The New Dawn joint venture filed a partial loss claim with its insurers relating to the C-band antenna reflector anomaly and all of the insurance proceeds from the partial loss claim were received in 2011. The Ku-band antenna reflector deployed and that portion of the satellite is operating as planned, entering service in June 2011. A Failure Review Board established to determine the cause of the anomaly completed its investigation in July 2011 and concluded that the deployment anomaly of the C-band reflector was most likely due to a malfunction of the reflector sunshield. As a result, the

sunshield interfered with the ejection release mechanism, and prevented the deployment of the C-band antenna. The Failure Review Board also recommended corrective actions for Orbital Sciences Corporation satellites not yet launched to prevent reoccurrence of the anomaly. Appropriate corrective actions were implemented on IS-18,Intelsat 18, which was successfully launched on October 5, 2011, and on IS-23,Intelsat 23, which was launched in October 2012.

During launch operations of IS-19Intelsat 19 on June 1, 2012, the satellite experienced damage to its south solar array. Although both solar arrays are deployed, the power available to the satellite is less than is required to operate 100% of the payload capacity. The Independent Oversight Board (“IOB”), formed by Space Systems/Loral, LLC (“SSL”) and Sea Launch to investigate the solar array deployment anomaly. The IOBanomaly, concluded that the anomaly occurred before the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle during the ascent phase of the launch, and originated in one of the satellite’s two solar array wings due to a rare combination of factors in the panel fabrication andthat was unrelated to the launch vehicle. While the satellite is operational, the anomaly resulted in structural and electrical damage to one solar array wing, which reduced the amount of power available for payload operation. Additionally, we filed a partial loss claim with our insurers relating to the solar array

anomaly. We received $84.8 million of insurance proceeds related to the claim in 2013. As planned, IS-19 followed IS-8Intelsat 19 replaced Intelsat 8 at 166°E, in August 2012.

During the orbit raising of Intelsat 33e in September 2016, the satellite experienced a malfunction of the main satellite thruster. Orbit raising was subsequently completed using a different set of satellite thrusters. The anomaly resulted in a delay of approximately three months in the satellite reaching geostationary orbit as well as a reduction in the satellite’s estimated lifetime. Intelsat 33e entered service in January 2017, and currently, there is no evidence of any impact to the communications payload. A Failure Review Board has been established to determine the cause of the anomaly. Intelsat has filed a notice of occurrence with insurers relating to the reduction of life.

We may experience a launch failure or other satellite damage or destruction during launch, which could result in a total or partial satellite loss. A new satellite could also fail to achievereach its designated orbital location after launch. Any such loss of a satellite could negatively impact our business plans and could reduce our revenue.

Satellites are subject to certain risks related to failed launches. Launch failures result in significant delays in the deployment of satellites because of the need both to construct replacement satellites, which can take 24 months or longer, and to obtain other launch opportunities. Such significant delays could materially and adversely affect our operations and our revenue. In addition, significant delays could give customers who have purchased or reserved capacity on that satellite a right to terminate their service contracts relating to the satellite. We may not be able to accommodate affected customers on other satellites until a replacement satellite is available. A customer’s termination of its service contracts with us as a result of a launch failure would reduce our contracted backlog. Delay caused by launch failures may also preclude us from pursuing new business opportunities and undermine our ability to implement our business strategy.

Launch vehicles may also under-perform, in which case the satellite may still be placed into service by using its onboard propulsion systems to reach the desired orbital location, resulting in a reduction in its service life. In addition, although we have had launch insurance on all of our launches to date, if we were not able to obtain launch insurance on commercially reasonable terms and a launch failure were to occur, we would directly suffer the loss of the cost of the satellite and related costs, which could be more than $250 million.

On February 1, 2013, the launch vehicle for our IS-27Intelsat 27 satellite failed shortly after liftoff and the satellite was completely destroyed. A Failure Review Board was established and subsequently concluded that the launch failed due to the mechanical failure of one of the first stage engine’s thrust control components. The satellite and launch vehicle were fully insured, and all of the insurance proceeds from the loss claim were received in 2013.

Since 1975,1980, we and the entities we have acquired andhave launched 126119 satellites. Including the IS-27Intelsat 27 satellite, nineseven of these satellites were destroyed as a result of launch failures, sixall but one of which occurred prior to 1995.2000. In addition, certain launch vehicles that we have used or are scheduled to use have experienced launch failures in the past. Launch failure rates vary according to the launch vehicle used.

As of December 31, 2015,2016, we had 10seven satellites which are in the manufacturing and design phase, or recently launched, from 2017 to 2019. We also have three other satellites in development, that are expected to be launched from 2016 to 2018. See Item 5B—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Capital Expenditures.which will not require capital expenditure.

New or proposed satellites are subject to construction and launch delays, the occurrence of which can materially and adversely affect our operations.

The construction and launch of satellites are subject to certain delays. Such delays can result from delays in the construction of satellites and launch vehicles, the periodic unavailability of reliable launch opportunities, possible delays in obtaining regulatory approvals and launch failures. We have in the past experienced delays in

satellite construction and launch which have adversely affected our operations. Future delays may have the same effect. A significant delay in the future delivery of any satellite may also adversely affect our marketing plan for the satellite. If satellite construction schedules are not met, a launch opportunity may not be available at the time a satellite is ready to be launched. Further, any significant delay in the commencement of service of any of our satellites could enable customers who pre-purchased or agreed to utilize transponder capacity on the satellite to terminate their contracts and could affect our plans to replace an in-orbit satellite prior to the end of its service life. The failure to implement our satellite deployment plan on schedule could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Delays in the launch of a satellite intended to replace an existing satellite that resultsresult in the existing satellite reaching its end of life before being replaced could result in loss of business to the extent an in-orbit backup is not available. As of December 31, 2015,2016, we had 10seven satellites which are in the manufacturing and design phase, or recently launched, from 2017 to 2019. We also have three other satellites in development, that are expected to be launched from 2016 to 2018. See Item 5B—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Capital Expenditures.which will not require capital expenditure.

Our dependence on outside contractors could result in increased costs and delays related to the launch of our new satellites, which would in turn adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

There isare a limited number of companies that we are able to use to launch our satellites and a limited number of commercial satellite launch opportunities available in any given time period. Adverse events with respect to our launch service providers, such as satellite launch failures or financial difficulties (which some of these providers have previously experienced), could result in increased costs or delays in the launch of our satellites. General economic conditions may also affect the ability of launch providers to provide launch services on commercially reasonable terms or to fulfill their obligations in terms of launch dates, pricing, or both. In the event that our launch service providers are unable to fulfill their obligations, we may have difficulty procuring alternative services in a timely manner and may incur significant additional expenses as a result. Any such increased costs and delays could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

A natural disaster could diminish our ability to provide communications service.

Natural disasters could damage or destroy our ground stations, resulting in a disruption of service to our customers. We currently have the technology to help safeguard our antennas and protect our ground stations during natural disasters such as a hurricane, but the collateral effects of such disasters such as flooding may impair the functioning of our ground equipment. If a future natural disaster impairs or destroys any of our ground facilities, we may be unable to provide service to our customers in the affected area for a period of time and may incur an impairment charge lowering our operating income.

Risk Factors Relating to Regulation

We are subject to orbital slot/slot and spectrum access requirements of the International Telecommunication Union (“ITU”) and regulatory and licensing requirements in each of the countries in which we provide services, and our business is sensitive to regulatory changes internationally and in those countries.

The telecommunications industry is highly regulated, and we depend on access to orbital slots and spectrum resources to provide satellite services. The ITU and national regulators allocate spectrum for satellite services, and may change these allocations, which could change or limit how Intelsat’s current satellites are able to be used. In addition, in connection with providing satellite capacity, ground network uplinks, downlinks and other value-added services to our customers, we need to maintain regulatory approvals, and from time to time obtain new regulatory approvals, from various countries. Obtaining and maintaining these approvals can involve significant time and expense. If we cannot obtain or are delayed in obtaining the required regulatory approvals, we may not be able to provide these services to our customers or expand into new services. In addition, the laws and regulations to which we are subject could change at any time, thus making it more difficult for us to obtain

new regulatory approvals or causing our existing approvals to be revoked or adversely modified. Because the regulatory schemes vary by country, we may also be subject to regulations of which we are not presently aware and could be subject to sanctions by a foreign government that could materially and adversely affect our operations in that country. If we cannot comply with the laws and regulations that apply to us, we could lose our revenue from services provided to the countries and territories covered by these laws and regulations and be subject to criminal or civil sanctions.

If we do not maintain regulatory authorizations for our existing satellites and associated ground facilities or obtain authorizations for our future satellites and associated ground facilities, we may not be able to operate our existing satellites or expand our operations.

The operation of our existing satellites is authorized and regulated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), the U.K. Office of Communications (“Ofcom”) and the U.K. Space Agency (“UKSA”), the National Information & Communications Technology Authority of Papua New Guinea (“NICTA”), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, and the Bundesnetzagentur (“BNetzA”) in Germany.

We believe our current operations are in compliance with FCC and non-U.S. licensing jurisdiction requirements. However, if we do not maintain the authorizations necessary to operate our existing satellites, we will not be able to operate the satellites covered by those authorizations, unless we obtain authorization from another licensing jurisdiction. Some of our authorizations provide waivers of technical regulations. If we do not maintain these waivers, we will be subject to operational restrictions or interference that will affect our use of existing satellites. Loss of a satellite authorization could cause us to lose the revenue from services provided by that satellite at a particular orbital location to the extent these services cannot be provided by satellites at other orbital locations.

Our launch and operation of planned satellites requiresrequire additional regulatory authorizations from the FCC or a non-U.S. licensing jurisdiction. Likewise, if any of our current operations are deemed not in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, we may be subject to various sanctions, including fines, loss of authorizations, or denial of applications for new authorizations or renewal of existing authorizations. It is not uncommon for licenses for new satellites to be granted just prior to launch, and we expect to receive such licenses for all planned satellites. If we do not obtain required authorizations in the future, we will not be able to operate our planned satellites. If we obtain a required authorization but we do not meet milestones regarding the construction, launch and operation of a satellite by deadlines that may be established in the authorization, we may lose our authorization to operate a satellite using certain frequencies in an orbital location. Any authorizations we obtain may also impose operational restrictions or permit interference that could affect our use of planned satellites.

If we do not occupy unused orbital locations by specified deadlines, or do not maintain satellites in orbital locations we currently use, those orbital locations may become available for other satellite operators to use.

If we are unable to place satellites into currently unused orbital locations by specified deadlines and in a manner that satisfies the ITU or national regulatory requirements, or if we are unable to maintain satellites at the orbital locations that we currently use, we may lose our rights and/or priority to use these orbital locations, and the locations with ITU priority could become available for other satellite operators to use. The loss of one or more of our orbital locations could negatively affect our plans and our ability to implement our business strategy.

Coordination results may adversely affect our ability to use a satellite at a given orbital location for our proposed service or coverage area.

We are required to record frequencies and orbital locations used by our satellites with the ITU and to coordinate with other satellite operators and national administrations the use of these frequencies and orbital locations in order to avoid interference to or from other satellites. The results of coordination may adversely affect our use of satellites at particular orbital locations, as well as the type of applications or services that we can accommodate. If we are unable to coordinate our satellites by specified deadlines, we may not be able to use a

satellite at a given orbital location for our proposed service or coverage area. The use of our satellites may also be temporarily or permanently adversely affected if the operation of adjacent satellite networks does not conform to coordination agreements resulting in the acceptable interference levels being exceeded (e.g., due to operational errors associated with the transmissions to adjacent satellite networks).

Our failure to maintain or obtain authorizations under the U.S. export control and trade sanctions laws and regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business.

The export of satellites and technical data related to satellites, earth station equipment and provision of services are subject to U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department U.S.of Commerce Department and U.S. Department of Treasury Department regulations. If we do not maintain our existing authorizations or obtain necessary future authorizations under the export control laws and regulations of the United States, we may be unable to export technical data or equipment to non-U.S. persons and companies, including to our own non-U.S. employees, as required to fulfill existing contracts. If we do not maintain our existing authorizations or obtain necessary future authorizations under the trade sanctions laws and regulations of the United States, we may not be able to provide satellite capacity and related administrative services to certain countries subject to U.S. sanctions. Our ability to acquire new satellites, launch new satellites or operate our satellites could also be negatively affected if our suppliers do not obtain required U.S. export authorizations.

If we do not maintain required security clearances from, and comply with our agreements with, the U.S. Department of Defense, or if we do not comply with U.S. law, we may not be able to continue to perform our obligations under U.S. government contracts.

To participate in classified U.S. government programs, we sought and obtained security clearances for one of our subsidiaries from the U.S. Department of Defense. Given our foreign ownership, we entered into a proxy agreement with the U.S. government that limits our ability to control the operations of this subsidiary, as required under the national security laws and regulations of the United States. If we do not maintain these security clearances, we will not be able to perform our obligations under any classified U.S. government contracts to which our subsidiary is a party, the U.S. government would have the right to terminate our contracts requiring access to classified information and we will not be able to enter into new classified contracts. As a result, our business could be materially and adversely affected. Further, if we materially violate the terms of the proxy agreement or if we are found to have materially violated U.S. law, we or the subsidiary holding the security clearances may be suspended or barred from performing any U.S. government contracts, whether classified or unclassified, and we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties.

A. History and Development of the Company

The Company

Our legal and commercial name is Intelsat S.A. The Company was organized as a public limited liability company (Sociésociété Anonymeanonyme) under the laws of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg on July 8, 2011. Our principal executive office is located at 4, rue Albert Borschette, L-1246, Luxembourg, telephone number +352 27 84 1600.

Our History

Intelsat, Ltd. was the successor entity to the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (the “IGO”), and a Bermuda company. The IGO was a public intergovernmental organization created on an interim basis by its initial member states in 1964 and formally established in February 1973 upon entry into force of an intergovernmental agreement. The member states that were party to the treaty governing the IGO designated certain entities to market and use the IGO’s communications system within their territories and to hold investment share in the IGO.

The Privatization

In November 2000, the IGO’s Assembly of Parties unanimously approved our management’s specific plan for our privatization and set the date of privatization for July 18, 2001. On July 18, 2001, substantially all of the assets and liabilities of the IGO were transferred to us.

The IGO, referred to post-privatization as the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (“ITSO”), was established and was to exist as an intergovernmental organization for a period of at least 12 years after July 18, 2001, and then could be terminated by a decision of a governing body of ITSO called the Assembly of Parties. The Assembly of Parties voted in 2012 to continue ITSO until at least 2021. Pursuant to a Public Services Agreement among ITSO and Intelsat, Ltd. and certain of our subsidiaries, we have an obligation to provide our services in a manner consistent with the core principles of global coverage and connectivity, lifeline connectivity and non-discriminatory access, and ITSO monitors our implementation of this obligation.

The 2005 Acquisition Transactions

On January 28, 2005, Intelsat, Ltd. was acquired by Intelsat Holdings, Ltd. (“Intelsat Holdings”) for total cash consideration of approximately $3.2 billion, with pre-acquisition debt of approximately $1.9 billion remaining outstanding. Intelsat Holdings was initially formed as a Bermuda company.

The PanAmSat Acquisition Transactions

In August 2005, Intelsat (Bermuda), Ltd. (“Intelsat Bermuda”), our indirect wholly-owned subsidiary now known as Intelsat (Luxembourg) S.A., PanAmSat Holding Corporation and Proton Acquisition Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intelsat Bermuda, signed a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which on July 3, 2006, Intelsat Bermuda acquired all of the outstanding equity interests in PanAmSat for $25.00 per common share in cash, or approximately $3.2 billion in the aggregate (plus approximately $0.00927 per share as the pro rata share of undeclared regular quarterly dividends).

The Sponsors Acquisition Transactions

On February 4, 2008, Serafina Acquisition Limited completed its acquisition of 100% of the equity ownership of Intelsat Holdings for total cash consideration of approximately $5.0 billion, pursuant to a share purchase agreement among Serafina Acquisition Limited, Intelsat Holdings, certain shareholders of Intelsat Holdings and Serafina Holdings Limited (“Serafina Holdings”) (the “Sponsors Acquisition Transactions”). Serafina Holdings is an entity formed by funds controlled by BC Partners Holdings Limited (the “BCEC Funds”) and certain other investors. Subsequent to the execution of the share purchase agreement, two investment funds controlled by Silver Lake Partners, L.P. (“Silver Lake Partners”) and other equity investors joined the BCEC Funds as the equity sponsors of Serafina Holdings. We refer to the BCEC Funds, the Silver Lake Partners funds and the other equity sponsors collectively as the Sponsors.“Sponsors”. As a result of completion of the Sponsors Acquisition Transactions and related financing transactions, we and our subsidiaries assumed aggregate net incremental debt of approximately $3.7 billion.

The Luxembourg Migration

On December 15, 2009, Intelsat, Ltd. and certain of its parent holding companies and subsidiaries migrated their jurisdiction of organization from Bermuda to Luxembourg (the “Migration”). As a result of the Migration, our headquarters are located in Luxembourg. Each company that migrated has continued its corporate and legal personality in Luxembourg. Subsequent to the Migration, Intelsat Global, Ltd. became known as Intelsat Global S.A., Intelsat Global Subsidiary, Ltd. became known as Intelsat Global Subsidiary S.A., Intelsat Holdings, Ltd. became known as Intelsat Holdings S.A., Intelsat, Ltd. became known as Intelsat S.A., Intelsat (Bermuda), Ltd. became known as Intelsat (Luxembourg) S.A. and Intelsat Jackson Holdings, Ltd. became known as Intelsat Jackson Holdings S.A.

The Initial Public Offering

On April 23, 2013, we completed our initial public offering, in which we issued 22,222,222 common shares, and a concurrent public offering, in which we issued 3,450,000 5.75% Series A mandatory convertible junior non-voting preferred shares (the “Series A Preferred Shares”), at public offering prices of $18.00 and $50.00 per share, respectively (the initial public offering together with the concurrent public offering, the “IPO”), for total proceeds of $572.5 million (or approximately $550 million after underwriting discounts and commissions). In connection with the IPO, on April 16, 2013, the name of the Company was changed from Intelsat Global Holdings S.A. to Intelsat S.A. In May 2016, all of the outstanding Series A Preferred Shares were converted in accordance with their terms into common shares.

B. Business Overview

Overview

We operate the world’s largest satellite services business, providing a critical layer in the global communications infrastructure. We are an industry leader, using innovative technology and new services to transform our business and that of our customers by expanding the types of applications that can be served by satellite-based solutions. Our global scale, expertise with data and video applications on every continent, technology leadership and leading portfolio of spectrum rights are attributes which position us for an increasing role in a world where connectivity everywhere, and to all devices, is viewed as a necessity for economic growth.

We provide diversified communications services to the world’s leading media companies, fixed and wireless telecommunications operators, data networking service providers for enterprise and mobile applications in the air and on the seas, multinational corporations and ISPs. We are also the leading provider of commercial satellite communication services to the U.S. government and other select military organizations and their contractors.

Our customers use Regionally, our global network forbusiness is highly diversified, and we earn a broad range of applications, from global distribution of content for media companies to providing the transmission layer for commercial aeronautical consumer broadband connectivity, to enabling rural access solutions for wireless telecommunications providersleading share in high-growth emerging regions.each region served.

Our network solutions are a critical component of our customers’ infrastructures and business models. Generally, our customers need the specialized connectivity that satellites provide so long as they are in business or pursuing their mission. For instance,In recent years, mobility services providers have contracted for services on our fleet that support broadband connections for passengers on commercial flights and cruise ships, connectivity that in some cases is only available through our network. In addition, our satellite neighborhoods provide our media customers with efficient and reliable broadcast distribution that maximizes audience reach, a benefit that is difficult for terrestrial services to match. In addition,developing regions, our satellite solutions often provide higher reliability than is available from local terrestrial telecommunications services in many regions and allow our customers to reach geographies that they would otherwise be unable to serve.

In the future, we expect our Globalized Network to be an integral part of machine-to-machine networks, especially those requiring massive software updates best delivered via broadcast, such as networks connecting cars and other vehicles. As we invest in new constellations, such as our Intelsat Epic^NG high-throughput satellite platform and Low Earth Orbit satellites, and new ground technologies, such as electronic antennas, we are creating a portfolio of solutions that will be interoperable with other telecommunications technologies and seamlessly integrated with other telecommunications solutions to address the immense connectivity requirements of a fully-connected and converged landscape.

We hold the largest collection of rights to well-placed orbital slots in the most valuable C- and Ku-band spectrums. From these locations, our satellites are able to offer services in the established regions historically using the most satellite capacity, as well as the higher growth emerging regions, where approximately 53%52% of our capacity is currently focused.

We believe our global scale, Globalized Network, leadership position and valuable customer relationships and global network enable us to benefit from growing demand for reliable bandwidth,broadband connectivity, resulting from trends such as:

We believe that we have the largest, most reliable and most technologically advanced commercial communications network in the world. Our global communications system features a fleet of approximately 50 geosynchronous satellites that covers more than 99% of the world’s populated regions. Our satellites primarily provide services in the C- and Ku-band frequencies, which form the largest part of the FSS sector.

Our next generation high-throughput satellites, known as Intelsat Epic^NG, are designed specifically to reduce cost of service by optimizing performance and efficiency to the user. Our goal is to transform our network as we incorporate these next generation technologies, and we expect we will be able to provide commercial customers with services that allow them to innovate and develop new high bandwidth applications, in turn transforming their businesses and expanding the territories that they can profitably serve. Our new fleet has been designed to commercial-grade standards. This allows us to offer committed information rates for our service provider customers, as compared to satellite networks designed primarily to provide consumer “best effort”-grade services.

Our satellite capacity is complemented by our suite of IntelsatOne^® managed services, including our Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching terrestrial network comprised of leased fiber optic cable, access to Internet points of presence (“PoPs”), multiplexed video and data platforms and owned and operated teleports, and a growing network of partner teleports. Our satellite-based network solutions offer distinct technical and economic benefits to our target customers and provide a number of advantages over terrestrial communications systems, including the following:

We believe that our hybrid satellite-terrestrial network, combined with the world’s largest collection of FSS spectrum rights, is a unique and valuable asset.

Our network architecture is flexible and, coupled with our global scale, provides strong capital and operating efficiency. We are able to re-deploy capacity, moving satellites or repositioning beams to capture demand. In 2016, we have begun launching satelliteslaunched two of our next-generation fleet design, branded asnext generation Intelsat Epic^NG, a high throughput platform that will further increase our flexibility while decreasing our cost satellites, Intelsat 29e and Intelsat 33e, placed into service during the first quarter of transmission. The first of these satellites is expected to enter service in the second quarter of2016.2016 and 2017, respectively. Our technology has utility across a number of applications,requirements, with minimal customization to address diverse applications.

We have a reputation for operational and engineering excellence, built on our experience of over 50 years in the communications sector. Our network delivered 99.993% network availability on all satellites to our customers in 2016. We operate our global network from a fully-integrated, centralized satellite operations facility, with regional sales and marketing offices located close to our customers. The operational flexibility of our network is an important element of our differentiation and our ability to grow.

We have a reputation for operational and engineering excellence, built on our experience of 50 years in the communications sector. Our network delivered 99.998% network availability on station-kept satellites to our customers in 2015.

As of December 31, 2015,2016, our contracted backlog, which is our expected future revenue under existing customer contracts, was approximately $9.4$8.7 billion, roughly four times our 20152016 annual revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2015,2016, we generated revenue of $2.35$2.19 billion and net lossincome attributable to Intelsat S.A. of $3.9 billion.$990.2 million. Our Adjusted EBITDA, which consists of EBITDA as adjusted to exclude or include certain unusual items, certain other operating expense items and certain other adjustments, was $1.85$1.65 billion, or 79%75% of revenue, for the year ended December 31, 2015.2016.

In 2015 our businessand 2016, the satellite sector encountered a number of challenges that are reflected in our operating results, and we believe these trends are likely to continue for some time:

business. We believe we benefit from a number of characteristics that allow us to effectively manage our business despite these competitive and geo-economic pressures:

We believe that our leadership position in our attractive sector, global scale, efficient operating and financial profile, diversified customer sets and sizeable contracted backlog, together with the growing worldwide demand for reliable bandwidth,broadband connectivity everywhere at all times, provide us with a platform for long-term success.

Recent Developments

On February 28, 2017, Intelsat entered into a combination agreement with WorldVu Satellites Limited (“OneWeb”) (the “Combination Agreement”) pursuant to which, and subject to the terms and conditions thereof, OneWeb will merge with and into Intelsat, with Intelsat being the surviving entity (the “Merger”). OneWeb is the builder of a new Low Earth Orbit (“LEO”) global communications system.

Also on February 28, 2017, the Company entered into a share purchase agreement with SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”) (the “Share Purchase Agreement”) pursuant to which, and subject to the terms and conditions thereof, SoftBank will acquire common shares and nonvoting redeemable convertible preferred shares of the Company for aggregate cash consideration of $1.7 billion (the “SoftBank Investment” and, together with the Merger, the “Transactions”).

Under the terms of the Combination Agreement, at the effective time of the Merger, each common share of OneWeb issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time will be converted into the right to receive common shares of Intelsat. Intelsat’s shareholders will retain the common shares of Intelsat that they currently hold. Based on the terms of the transactions announced on February 28, 2017, current Intelsat shareholders are expected to hold approximately 19% of the common shares of Intelsat following completion of the Transaction.

Consummation of the Merger pursuant to the Combination Agreement, and of the SoftBank Investment pursuant to the Share Purchase Agreement, are cross-conditioned on one another. Consummation of the Merger and the SoftBank Investment also are subject to Intelsat’s subsidiaries completing certain debt exchange offers, as well as certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The proceeds of the SoftBank Investment will be used in part to fund the cash payments to be made at closing of the Transactions to bondholders that participate in the exchange offers. The Combination Agreement and the Share Purchase Agreement (together, the “Transaction Agreements.”) each provide that any party thereto may terminate such agreement if sufficient tenders are not received in the exchange offers within 90 days of the date of the agreements. Shareholders of the Company and shareholders of OneWeb have agreed to vote sufficient shares in favor of the Transactions in order to obtain the required shareholder approvals. The Company expects to complete the Transactions late in the third quarter of 2017.

There can be no assurance that the Transactions will be completed, or whether the terms will be amended from those described above.

Our Sector

Satellite services are an integral and growing part of the global communications infrastructure. Through unique capabilities, such as the ability to effectively blanket service regions, to offer point-to-multipoint distribution and to provide a flexible architecture, satellite services complement, and for certain applications are preferable to, terrestrial telecommunications services, including fiber and wireless technologies. The sector, excluding all consumer broadband, is expected to generate revenues of approximately $13.0$12.8 billion in 2015,2017, and transponder service revenue is expected to grow by a compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of 3.1%1.7% from 20152016 to 20202021 according to a study issued in 20152016 by NSR, a leading international market research and consulting firm specializing in satellite and wireless technology and applications.

In recent years, the addressable market for FSS has expanded to include mobile applications because of satellite’s ability to provide the broadband access required by high bandwidth mobile platforms, such as for commercial ships and aircraft, as well as military mobility applications, including unmanned aerial vehicles. Satellite services provide secure bandwidth capacity ideal for global in-theater communications since military operations are often occur in locations without reliable communications infrastructure. According to a study by NSR, global revenue from FSS services used for government and military applications is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.5%9.2% from 20152016 to 2020.2021.

Our sector is noted for having favorable operating characteristics, including long-term contracts, high renewal rates and strong cash flows. The fundamentals of the sector are attractive, given the global need for connectivity everywhere and explosion of global content. The continuing growth in demand in our sector, combined with the high operating margins which are characteristic of the sector, provides a resilient business model.

There is a finite number of geostationary orbital slots in which FSS satellites can be located, and many orbital locations already hold operating satellites pursuant to complex regulatory processes involving many international and national governmental bodies. These satellites typically are operated under coordination agreements designed to avoid interference with other operators’ satellites. See—Regulation below for a more detailed discussion of regulatory processes relating to the operation of satellites.

Our sector has consolidated over the course of the last decade, as the combination of large capital commitments, operational infrastructure requirements and access to spectrum has created challenges for smaller operators. Today, there are only four FSS operators, including us, providing global services, which is important as multinationals and governments seek a one-stop solution for obtaining global connectivity. In addition, there are a number of operators with fewer satellites that provide regional and/or national services. We currently hold the largest number of rights to orbital slots in the most valuable C- and Ku-band spectrums.

We believe a number of fundamental trends in our sector are creating increasing demand for satellite services:

In total, transponder service revenue (excluding consumer broadband) is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.5%1.7% for the period from 20152016 to 2020,2021, according to NSR.

Our Customer Sets and Growing Applications

We focus on business-to-business services that indirectly enablingenable enterprise, government and consumer applications through our customers. Our customer contracts offer four different service types: transponder services, managed services, channel services and mobile satellite services and other. See Item 5—Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Revenue for further discussion of our service types. Characteristics of our customer sets are summarized below:

We provide satellite capacity and related communications services for the transmission of video, data and voice signals. Our customer contracts cover on- and off-network capacity with four different service types:

On-Network:

Off-Network:

We also perform satellite-related consulting services and technical services for various third parties, such as operating satellites for other satellite owners.

Network Services

We are the world’s largest provider of satellite capacity for network services, according to Euroconsult, with a 29% global share. Our satellite capacity, paired with our terrestrial network comprised of leased fiber, teleports and data networking platforms, enables the transmission of video, data and voice to and from virtually any point on the surface of the earth. There is an increasing need for basic and high-speed connectivity in developed and emerging regions around the world. We provide an essential element of the infrastructure supporting the rapid expansion of wireless services in many emerging regions. Furthermore, as mobile communications becomes essential to global networking and Internet use, we are increasingly providing capacity, such as that provided by the Intelsat Epic^NG platform, to be used for mobility applications such as maritime enterprise and maritime and aeronautical broadband services for passenger access services.

Network services is our largest customer set and accounted for 45%41% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 20152016 and $2.5$2.4 billion of our contracted backlog as of December 31, 2015.2016. Our business generated from the network services sector is generally characterized by non-cancellable, one to five year contracts with many of the world’s leading communications providers, includingproviders. This includes fixed and wireless telecommunications companies, such as global carriers and regional and national providers in emerging regions, corporate network service providers, such as VSAT services providers to vertical markets including banks, value-added services providers, such as those serving the aeronautical and maritime industries, and multinational corporations and other organizations operating globally.

According to Euroconsult, we are the world’s largest provider of satellites capacity for network services, with a 30% global share. Our satellite services, comprised of satellite capacity, and terrestrial network comprised

of leased fiber, teleports and data networking platforms, enable the transmission of video and data to and from virtually any point on the surface of the earth. Basic communications and broadband connectivity in developed and emerging regions are meaningful contributors to economic growth. We provide an essential element of the communications infrastructure enabling the rapid expansion of wireless services that support businesses, communities and governments in many emerging regions.

Our network services offerings are an essential component of our customers’ services, providing backbone infrastructure, expanded service areas and connectivity where reliability or geography is a challenge. We believe that we are a preferred provider because of our global service capability and our expertise in delivering services with operator-gradeenterprise-grade network availability and efficient network control.

Furthermore, as mobile communications have become essential to global networking and Internet use, our satellite solutions, such as those provided by the Intelsat Epic^NG platform, are being increasingly used for mobility applications. This includes broadband services for maritime vessels, ranging from maritime enterprise VSAT services to broadband connectivity for cruise ships. In addition to maritime applications, Intelsat’s satellite solutions are increasingly utilized by service providers to deliver broadband connectivity for in-flight entertainment and wi-fi services for the aeronautical industry.

Our IntelsatOne network includesmanaged services, including our new IntelsatOne Flex service, involve regional shared data networking platforms at our teleports that are connected to approximately 40 of our satellites. As a result, our customers can quickly establish highly reliable services across multiple regions, yet operate them on a centralized basis. Our satellite-based solutions allow customers to rapidly expand their service territories, increaseflexibly customize the access speed and capabilities for their existing networks and efficiently address new customer and end-user requirements.

Our leading position in this part of our business has been under pressure as new capacity from satellite operators and improved access to fiber links have changed the competitive environment in certain regions. The increase in satellite supply has resulted in significant declines in pricing, particularly in our Africa region. The increase in the availability of fiber has resulted in the accelerated retirement of our channel business, which essentially reached end of lifecycle at 2015 year end, and our international trunking services, which we expect to be a continuing source of decline through 2018. The new and differentiated capacity of our next generation Intelsat Epic^NG satellites will provide inventory to help offset these recent trends, providing bandwidth for wireless infrastructure, mobility and enterprise applications. With the increased volume of services provided by our Intelsat Epic^NG fleet, we believe that the level of business activity in this sector is stabilizing as compared to performance in the preceding two years.

Highlights of our network services business include the following:

exclusive provider of broadband connectivity to approximately 87% of the ships, and the non-exclusive provider for nearly all of the remaining vessels;

Our leading position in this partMedia

Media customers are our second largest customer set and accounted for 40% of our business has been under pressure as new capacity from satellite operatorsrevenue for the year ended December 31, 2016 and improved access to fiber links has changed the competitive environment in certain regions. The increase in satellite supply has resulted in significant declines in pricing, particularly in our Africa region. The increase in the availability of fiber has resulted in the accelerated retirement$5.6 billion of our channelcontracted backlog as of December 31, 2016. Our business which had reached endgenerated from the media sector is generally characterized by non-cancellable, long-term contracts with terms of lifecycle at 2015 year end,up to 15 years with premier customers, including national and our trunking businesses, which will be a continuing headwind for the next several years. As a result, we believe that the level of business activity in this sector in the near to mid-term will remain lower than that of past years. Our next generation Intelsat Epic^NG satellites will provide inventory to offset these recent trends, providing bandwidth for wireless infrastructure, mobilityglobal broadcasters, content providers and enterprise applications. The first of these satellites, IS-29e, is expected to enter service in the second quarter of 2016.

Mediadistributors, television programmers and DTH platform operators.

We are the world’s second largest provider of satellite capacity for media services, according to Euroconsult, with a 20%21% global share. We have delivered television programming to the world since the launch of our first satellite, Early Bird, in 1965. We provide satellite capacity for the transmission of entertainment, news, sports and educational programming for approximately 400350 broadcasters, content providers and DTH platform operators worldwide. We have well-established relationships with our media customers, and in some cases have distributed their content on our satellites for over 25 years.

Media customers are our second largest customer set and accounted for 38% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2015 and $6.2 billion of our contracted backlog as of December 31, 2015. Our business generated from the media sector is generally characterized by non-cancellable, long-term contracts with terms of up to 15 years with premier customers, including national broadcasters, content providers and distributors, television programmers and DTH platform operators.

Broadcasters, content providers and television programmers seek efficient distribution of their content to make it easily obtainable by affiliates, cable operators and DTH platforms; satellites’ point-to-multipoint capability is difficult to replicate via terrestrial alternatives. Our strong cable distribution neighborhoods offer media customers high penetration of regional and national audiences.

Broadcasters, content providers and television programmers also select us because our global capabilities enable the distribution or retrieval of content to or from virtually any point on earth. For instance, we regularly provide fully integrated global distribution networks for content providers that need to distribute their products across multiple continents. DTH platform operators use our services because of our attractive orbital locations and because the scale and flexibility of our fleet can provide speed to market and lowers their operating risk, as we have multiple satellites serving every region.

We believe that we enjoy a strong reputation for delivering the high network reliability required to serve the demanding media sector.

Our fully integrated satellite, fiber and teleport facilities provide enhanced quality control for programmers. In addition to basic satellite services, we offer bundled, value-added services under our IntelsatOne brand that include managed fiber services, digital encoding of video channels and up-linking and down-linking services to and from our satellites and teleport facilities. Our IntelsatOne bundled services address programmers’ interests in delivering content to multiple distribution channels, such as television and Internet, and their needs for launching programs to new regions in a cost-efficient manner.

Highlights of our media business include the following:

We expect continued growth in this part of our business in 2016,2017, supported by the expected launch of twoour new Intelsat 31 and Intelsat 36 satellites IS-31 and IS-36.launched in 2016. This will be offset somewhat by acceleration of compression technologies, which reduce bandwidth requirements in our North American business. In time, we expect new demand for capacity to support the new 4K format, also known as Ultra HD, which could compensate for reductions in demand related to compression.

Government

We are the leading provider of commercial satellite services to the government sector, according to NSR, with a 33%28% share of the U.S. military and government use of commercial satellite capacity worldwide. With 50 years of experience serving this customer set, we have built a reputation as a trusted partner for the provision of highly customized, secure and mission critical satellite-based solutions. The government sector accounted for 16%18% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 20152016 and $531$535 million of our contracted backlog as of December 31, 2015.2016.

Our satellite communication services business generated from the U.S. government sector is generally characterized by single year contracts that are cancellable by the customer upon payment of termination for convenience charges and include annual options to renew for periods of up to four additional years. In the first half of 2015, our results reflected the annualization of prior year declines, due to a reduced level of activity in our government business, although the business was stable in the second half of 2015.

In addition to communication services, our business generated from hosted payloads is generally characterized by contracts with service periods extending up to the 15 year life of the satellite, cancellable upon payment of termination penalties defined by the respective contracts.

Our customer base includes many of the leading U.S. government communications providers, including U.S. military and allied partners, civilian agencies and commercial customers serving the defense sector. We consider each party within the U.S. Department of Defense and other U.S. governmental agencies that has the ability to initiate a purchase requisition and select a contractor to provide services to be a separate customer, although such party may not be the party that awards us the contract for the services.

We attribute our strength in serving U.S. military and government users to our global infrastructure of satellites and our IntelsatOne network of teleports and fiber that complement the U.S. government’s own networks and satellites. Our fleet is flexible and provides secure, global network capacity, resilience and critical surge capabilities. In some instances, we provide our U.S. government customers managed, end-to-end secured networks, combining our resources in space and on the ground, for fixed and mobile applications.

In responding to certain unique customer requirements, we also procure and integrate satellite services provided by other satellite operators, either to supplement our capacity or to obtain capacity in frequencies not

available on our fleet, such as L-band, X-band and other spectrums not available on our network. These off-network services are primarily low risk in nature, typically with the terms and conditions of the third party capacity and services we procure matched to contractual commitments from our customer. We are an attractive supplier to the government sector because of our ability to leverage not only our assets but also other space-based solutions, providing a single contracting source for multiple, integrated technologies.

Highlights of our government business include the following:

While the government business has stabilized compared to prior years, we expect lower revenue in 2017 as a result of the loss of a major contract, which was reported in 2016. Overall, business activity in this customer set reflects the current tempo of our end-customers’ operations and the budgetary constraints of the U.S. government; visibility remains low and the pace of new business and subsequent awards remain slow.

Over the course of 2015, our government business grew more stable as compared to the prior two years, which were impacted more significantly by U.S. budget sequestration and troop withdrawals from the Middle East. Wemid-term, we believe our reputation as a provider of secure solutions, our global fleet, our customer relationships, our ability to provide turn-key services and our demonstrated willingness to reposition or procure capacity to support specific requirements position us to successfully compete for commercial satellite solutions for bandwidth intensive military and civilian applications. We expect our government business to benefit from the increasing demands for mobility services from the U.S. government for aeronautical and ground mobile requirements, especially as our next generation Intelsat Epic^NG services are deployed across regions where the U.S. government has active ground forces. We also note progress in U.S. government procurement practices, with some specific instances of contracting for services for periods in excess of the more typical 1one year term, and interest in exploring creative contracting constructs such as hosted payloads and outsourcing of certain space-based functions.

Our Diverse Business

Our revenue and backlog diversity spans customer sets and applications, as discussed above, as well as geographic regions and satellites. We believe our diversity allows us to recognize trends to capture new growth opportunities, and gain experience that can be transferred to customers in different regions. For further details regarding geographic distribution of our revenue, see Note 17 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

We believe we are the sector leader by transponder share in all but two of the geographic regions covered by our network, and our leading positions align to the regions identified by industry analysts as those that either purchase the most satellite capacity or are emerging regions that have the highest growth prospects, such as Africa and Latin America.

The scale of our fleet can also reduce the financial impact of satellite failures and protect against service interruption. No single satellite generated more than 7%6% of our revenue and no single customer accounted for more than 7%8% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2015.2016.

The following chart shows the geographic diversity of our contracted backlog as of December 31, 20152016 by region and service sector, based upon the billing address of the customer.

The majority of our on-network revenue aligns to emerging regions, based upon the position of our satellites and beams. The following chart shows the breakdown of our on-network revenue by the region in which the service is delivered as of December 31, 2015:2016:

Our StrategyStrategy: Transforming Our Business and Our Sector

We are transforming our business and sector, investing in and deploying innovative new technologies that will change the types of applications that we can serve and increase our share of the global demand for broadband connectivity everywhere—for all communities and for all devices.

Our strategy is built around four competitive advantages that strengthen our ability to reach our goals:

Our strategy is to seek revenue growth by expandingby:

Our strategy also involves improving our focusoperating and capital efficiency; this includes using technology to extend the life of assets and ground investments that complement our space-based assets using partnerships and other relationships for improved return on operational discipline.our investment and developing and investing in technology that will streamline the provisioning of our service offerings.

We believe that building infrastructure, introducingdeveloping differentiated services and investing in related technology will allow us to addressunlock opportunities that are essential, but have been slow to develop due to cost and/or technology challenges. Our new services and technologies will also open new sectors that are much larger, and growing much faster, than the sectors we support today. This includes:Examples include:

Our strategy positions us for long-term growth, which over time should offset our short-term challenges, including headwinds from price competition and lower revenues from trunking and otherBelow is a discussion of our point-to-point services. In 2016, we have begun to launch and place into service our Intelsat Epic^NG satellite platform, which provides the performance, economics, and simple access that we believe are necessary to unlock the new and faster growing applications for our services.

Given our efficient operating structure, we believe our strategies will position us to continue to deliver high operating margins. As we place into service our next generation capacity starting in 2016, as described below, we will have increased opportunity to generate organic revenue growth. The key components of ourfive business strategy include the following:strategies.

FocusBuild upon the stabilization in our core business onby delivering differentiated services for attractive and growing broadband, mobility, media and mediagovernment applications and innovative government solutions

We are a business-to-business provider of high performance, secure critical communications infrastructure. We intend to leverage our leading position, customer relationships, global network and regional strengths to capture new business opportunities as a result of the following:

Network Services: Broadband

Network Services: Mobility

Media:

Government:

Optimize and leverage our space-based assets, including orbital locations and spacecraft

We intend to maximize the revenues and returns generated by our assets by managing capacity in a disciplined and efficient manner. Key elements of our strategy include:

globalized network (see—Design and deploy global managed service offerings…—, below).

Continue development of our next generation satellite fleet, including Intelsat Epic^NG, satellite fleet which has been designed to capture growth from new applications and evolving customer requirements

Our fleet is large and diversified by coverage, manufacturer and age. As satellites reach the end of their service lives, we have an ongoing opportunity to refresh the technology we use to serve our customers, resulting in flexibility to address new opportunities as they are identified.

Our customers require increasing amounts of bandwidth, with more efficiency, in order to expand the types of applications they can support and expandgrow their addressable markets. Our next generation network investment strategy seeks to deploy space and terrestrial network elements that will allow us to deliver morehigh performance bandwidth while improving unit costs.costs through efficiency and simplified access.

OurWe are incorporating our next generation satellite technology, Intelsat Epic^NG, will be incorporated into our fleet as we complete the scheduled replacement of our IX-series satellites. The Intelsat Epic^NG platform features high throughputhigh-throughput spot beam technology, utilizing frequency reuse in order to significantly increase the amount of throughput on the satellites. Our Globalized Network also features a fiber network and our strategy includes investing in enhanced technology for our terrestrial network to deliver converging video and IP content, thus expanding the services we provide to the media and telecommunications industries.

The innovative Intelsat Epic^NG design is in contrast to other high throughputhigh-throughput platforms. Intelsat Epic^NG’s emphasizes open architecture and backwards compatibility, which provide our customer base with complete flexibility to leverage existing ground hardware capital investments, a significant element when analyzing total cost of ownership, and the ability to transition easily to the newer technology. Our open architecture ensures that Intelsat and our customers will be able to progressively integrate advances in ground technology over time, thereby capturing improved efficiency and throughput.

Our design optimizes throughput to the user terminal, maximizing the performance at the user level, including a much higher performing return link which is better suited to data patterns which are increasingly balanced to and from the Internet, reflecting the transport of more users or remote-end generated video back to the Internet. Our design allows us to provide enterprise-grade services supporting both committed information rates, and managed services such as IntelsatOne Flex, as compared to the ‘best efforts’ offerings associated with satellites designed for consumer-grade applications.

In addition, Intelsat Epic^NG features the industry’s first all-digital payload, which allows connectivities in any bandwidth increment from any beam to any beam. This attribute enables independent frequency selection of the uplink and downlink. Combined, these features provide unprecedented adaptability for a customer’s network configuration and topology, allowing customers to leverage installed hardware and to operate mixed spectrum networks. Further, Intelsat Epic^NG emphasizes open architecture and backward compatibility, which provides our customer base with complete flexibility to leverage existing ground hardware capital investment, a significant element when analyzing total cost of ownership, and the ability to transition easily to the newer technology.

While these Intelsat Epic^NG satellites are expected to cost more per satellite, our cost per bit delivered is expected to decrease significantly. Because Intelsat Epic^NG satellites are significantly larger in terms of capacity and throughput than traditional satellites, we expect the number of station-kept satellites we maintain in our fleet to decline over the course of a 15 year cycle. This will enhance our capital expenditure efficiency over time. The Intelsat Epic^NG platform introduced in 2012 was initially anchored by three customer contracts, representing nearly $500 million in backlog. As the satellite launch nears, renewals of existing customers at that orbital location will include the transition to the Intelsat Epic^NG platform. Our newer assets are used to address current market requirements, allowing older assets to be redeployed to serve legacy customer applications still efficiently served by those assets.

We believe that new satellite technologies, including high throughput satellites such as our Intelsat Epic ^NG platform, should significantly improve the performance and efficiency of our network, improving our competitiveness with alternative solutions and increasing the value we can provide to customers. These improvements will also allow us to expand our addressable market into new fixed and mobile broadband applications. We are also investing in enhanced technology that is incorporated in our terrestrial network to deliver converging video and IP content, thus expanding the services we provide to the media and telecommunications industries. We intend to continue to implement compression technologies into our ground network to reduce the bandwidth necessary for network service applications, increasing our customers’ efficiency and expanding our market potential, particularly in emerging regions.

Finally, we intend to leverage our frequent satellite launches and collection of orbital rights to address opportunities to supply specialized capabilities for large media companies and government applications. This could include launching and operating satellites with specific regional footprints and capabilities, such as our agreement with DIRECTV Latin America to providethe Telecommunications Ministry of Myanmar, for which we are providing customized capacity for DTH services on two satellites,Intelsat 39 to support the first of which was placed into service in 2014. Another example is our agreement with MultiChoice Inc. for capacity for DTH services on a satellite scheduled to be launched in 2016, serving South Africa and the Indian Ocean Region. With respect to government applications, this could include advanced satellites and space-based services, as well as the ability to integrate hosted payloads with our spacecraft, providing fast and cost-effective capabilities in space. For instance, we integrated a specialized payload for the Australian Defence Force (“ADF”) into our IS-22 satellite, which we launched in 2012.country’s digital inclusion initiative.

Design and deploy global managed service offerings based upon our scale and global footprint, leveraging the higher performance and better economics of our Intelsat Epic^NG fleet

Among the primary benefits of the Intelsat Epic^NG fleet is its backwards compatibility with the existing global footprint of the Intelsat fleet, together with our ability to create virtual private networks within beams. With this environment,design construct, we can attach shared data networking platforms to our satellite infrastructure that can be operated as virtual private networks by our customers. This provides all of the benefits of global high throughput

high-throughput satellite networking, without each service provider investingneeding to invest in dedicated ground infrastructure. Because of our architecture, our service provider customers will be able to offer highly differentiated service offerings, using their own network operations standard and committed information rates.rates, while accelerating time to market as new application or regional opportunities arise.

We are implementing a global managed service strategy that will make it easier for our customers to incorporate high throughputhigh-throughput technology into their respective networks. Our first Intelsat Epic^NG-based service offering is branded as current and planned managed services include:

Our managed services incorporate features that are customized to the mobility sector. Our global footprinteach vertical customer set. For instance, our IntelsatOne Flex Maritime service will allow our mobilitymaritime service provider customers to expand into new service regions and also scale their network as business dictates, effectively allowing them to move connectivity commitments between regions, which is important due to seasonality considerations. We believe this operational flexibility and capital efficiency will allow our customers to expandaccelerate their expansions into new regions and applications with lower business risk, creating value for their operations.

We planAlso, Intelsat Mobile Reach is planned for deployment in 2017, bringing high performance Intelsat Epic^NG services, new hardware and feature sets to extend our service offering concepts into other vertical applications, including the wireless sector. We also expect to introduce newfurther build upon our service platforms for our media customers, such as our 2015 introduction of a service called IntelsatOne Prism.Prism managed service. This service uses enhanced technology that is incorporated within our terrestrial network to deliver converging video and IP content with a simple user interface that allows customers to schedule multiple format transmissions simultaneously, increasing their operational efficiency

Drive innovation through investments in ecosystem, creative business developmentInnovate, identify new distribution channels, partner and new business modelsinvest across the value chain, transforming our capabilities and making satellite-based solutions an attractive and simple source of connectivity

Complementing our innovation on our space-based assets, we are investing in a new generation of ground hardware that is expected to simplify access to satellite communications, potentially opening much larger and faster growing sectors than those traditionally served by our industry.

In the first quarter of 2015, we announced the first of a series of investments in ground antennas that use metamaterials and other innovations to simplify deployment. For instance,reduce the physical profile of the antennas and allow electronic steering, significantly simplifying installations in the field and unlocking new applications for satellite communications. Since that time, we have entered into acontinued to progress our development partnership with Kymeta Inc., which includes an equity investment, that we expect to result in an affordable, flat antenna that could be installed in the automotive sector, enabling connected cars on a global basis, as well as other mobility applications. We are also an investor in Phasor, a company developing antenna technology that has a form factor to support broadband communications for the business jet sector.

We will also use new distribution agreements with partners that complement our capabilities and expand our reach into new vertical applications. This will improve our operating efficiency and also amplify our marketing efforts on a global basis.

We work closely with the entire ecosystem of satellite networking hardware manufacturers with the intent to accelerate the introduction of next generation technologies. As reduced physical footprints and improved

installation and operations features are introduced, such as solar-powered modems and software definable modems, we will improve access to our satellites and make use of satellite solutions more attractive to users needing connectivity.

We also plan to expand our use of partnering to extend into new applications. As we build on these relationships, we will be able to enhance our solutions with value-added services that leverage our global scale.

Going forward, we will also consider select acquisitions of complementary businesses or technologies that enhance our product and geographic portfolio and can benefit from our scale, scope and status as a global leader. For instance, in 2015 we invested in a new low earth orbit project, OneWeb, that will complement our geostationary fleet by providing fully interoperable global capacity, including over the North and South Poles, which is desirable for serving mobility applications. OneWeb and Intelsat will enable a larger and richer ecosystem, positioning Ku-band as the spectrum of choice for commercial applications, with complementary low-latency offerings for enterprise, government, cellular backhaul and mobility segments, providing our customers the ability to scale beyond that of today’s satellite sector.

Improve our operating and capital efficiency; this includes using technology to extend the life of assets, ground investments that complement our space-based assets, use of partnerships and other relationships for improved return on our investment, and developing and investing in technology that will streamline the provisioning of our service offerings.

We intend to maximize the revenues and returns generated by our assets by developing and managing capacity in a disciplined and efficient manner. Key elements of our strategy include:

Sales, Marketing and Distribution Channels

We strive to maintain a close working relationship with our customers. Our primary sales and marketing operations are located in the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition, we have established local sales and marketing support offices in the following countries around the world:

By establishing local offices closer to our customers and staffing those offices with experienced personnel, we believe that we are able to provide flexible and responsive service and technical support to our customers. Our sales and marketing organization reflects our corporate focus on our three principal customer sets of network services, media and government. Our sales team includes technical marketing and sales engineering application expertise and a sales approach focused on creating integrated solutions for our customers’ communications requirements.

We use a range of direct and wholesale distribution methods to sell our services, depending upon the region, applicablethe vertical application, regulatory requirements and customer application.

Our Network

Our global network is comprised of approximately 50 satellites and ground facilities, including teleports, access to Internet PoPs and leased fiber that support our commercial services and the operation and control of our satellites.

Our customers depend on our global communications network and our operational and engineering leadership. Highlights of our network include:

As we design our new satellites, we work closely with our strategic customers to incorporate technology and service coverage that providesprovide them with a cost-effective platform for their respective requirements.

The table below provides a summary of our satellite fleet as of December 31, 2015,2016, except where noted.

Satellite		Manufacturer		Orbital Location		Launch Date		Estimated End of Service Life(1)
Station Kept in Primary Orbital Role(2):
Intelsat 805		LM (3)		304.5°E		Jun-98		Q3 2018
Galaxy 11		BSS(4)		DRIFT		Dec-99		Q4 2018
Intelsat 12		SSL(5)		45°E		Oct-00		Q1 2017
Intelsat 901		SSL		342°E		Jun-01		Q2 2018
Intelsat 902		SSL		62°E		Aug-01		Q3 2019
Intelsat 904		SSL		60°E		Feb-02		Q2 2019
Intelsat 903		SSL		325.5°E		Mar-02		Q3 2018
Intelsat 905		SSL		335.5°E		Jun-02		Q2 2020
Galaxy 3C26		BSS		95.05°W		Jun-02		Q1 2023
Intelsat 906		SSL		64.15°E		Sep-02		Q2 2021
Intelsat 907		SSL		332.5°E		Feb-03		Q3 2020
Galaxy 23(6)		SSL		121°W		Aug-03		Q1 2023
Galaxy 13/Horizons 1 (7)		BSS		127��W		Oct-03		Q1 2023
Intelsat 1002 (8)		AIRBUS		359°E		Jun-04		Q2 2021
Galaxy 28		SSL		89°W		Jun-05		Q3 2022
Galaxy 14		ORB(9)		125°W		Aug-05		Q2 2021
Galaxy 15		ORB		133°W		Oct-05		Q3 2023
Galaxy 16		SSL		99°W		Jun-06		Q2 2024
Galaxy 17		Thales (10)		91°W		May-07		Q1 2024
Intelsat 11		ORB		317°E		Oct-07		Q3 2022
Horizon 2 (11)		ORB		84.85°E		Dec-07		Q3 2024
Galaxy 18		SSL		123°W		May-08		Q2 2026
Intelsat 25		SSL		328.5°E		Jul-08		Q2 2024
Galaxy 19		SSL		97°W		Sep-08		Q3 2026
Intelsat 14		SSL		315°E		Nov-09		Q3 2027
Intelsat 15		ORB		85.15°E		Nov-09		Q3 2026
Intelsat 16		ORB		76.2°W		Feb-10		Q1 2028
Intelsat 17		SSL		66°E		Nov-10		Q2 2027
Intelsat 28(12)		ORB		32.8°E		Apr-11		Q3 2024
Intelsat 18		ORB		180°E		Oct-11		Q3 2028
Intelsat 22(13)		BSS		72.1°E		Mar-12		Q2 2028
Intelsat 19		SSL		166°E		Jun-12		Q2 2028
Intelsat 20		SSL		68.5°E		Aug-12		Q3 2030
Intelsat 21		BSS		302°E		Aug-12		Q3 2030
Intelsat 23		ORB		307°E		Oct-12		Q3 2030
Intelsat 30		SSL		95°W		Oct-14		Q3 2030
Intelsat 34		SSL		304.5°E		Aug-15		Q3 2031
Station Kept Satellites, Redeployed (14):
Galaxy 25		SSL		93.1°W		May-97		Q2 2019
Intelsat 8		SSL		169°E		Nov-98		Q3 2016
Intelsat 1R		BSS		310°E		Nov-00		Q3 2018
Galaxy 12		ORB		129°W		Apr-03		Q2 2018
Inclined Orbit:
Intelsat 701		SSL		330.5°E		Oct-93		Q4 2018
Intelsat 702		SSL		32.9°E		Jun-94		Q1 2018
Intelsat 26		BSS		62.2°64.25°E		Feb-97		Q1 2017	Q2 2020
Intelsat 5		BSS		157°E		Aug-97			Q4 2020
Intelsat 7		SSL		341.8°E		Sep-98		Q4 2016
Galaxy 27		SSL		66.2°E		Sep-99		Q2 2016
Intelsat 9		BSS		316.9°E		Jul-00			Q3 20172019
Intelsat 10		BSS		47.5°E		May-01			Q3 2026
Intelsat 12		SSL		45°E		Oct-00			Q4 2017