By Ed Ballard
LONDON--Satellite operators are facing delays to their launch
plans after a satellite was destroyed shortly after take-off in
Kazakhstan, in the latest in a string of failures involving
Russia-build Proton rockets.
A satellite built for the Mexican government by Boeing Co. (BA)
failed eight minutes after liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan on Saturday, according to International Launch Services,
which carried out the launch.
The launch failure--the fourth involving a Proton rocket since
December 2012--will cause knock-on delays for other operators
scheduled to send their satellites into space from the same
facility.
Giles Thorne, an analyst at Jefferies International Ltd., called
the string of accidents "a catastrophic record of failure that will
surely precipitate a seismic shift in the launch landscape."
London-based Inmarsat PLC (ISAT.LN) was supposed to be launching
the third of its Global Xpress satellites, which underpin its plan
to roll out a new high-speed broadband network, in early June.
"This incident involving a failed Proton launch from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome is extremely unfortunate and will inevitably
delay our launch plans," said Chief Executive Rupert Pearce on
Monday.
After the incident, the company withdrew its revenue guidance
for the three years to 2016, but said its medium-term expectations
are unchanged.
New launches will be held up until the Russian government, which
owns the Baikonur Cosmodrome, has completed a probe into the cause
of the incident. In March, Mr. Pearce told Dow Jones Newswires that
a failure would result in a delay of three to six months.
Jefferies' Giles Thorne said the launch failure, which came a
year and a day after the previous loss of a Proton rocket, was
"incredible."
France's Eutelsat S.A. and U.S.-listed Intelsat S.A. also have
launches in the pipeline at Baikonur. Those too will also be held
up, Mr. Thorne said, but he added that the financial impact of the
delays is likely to be minimal.
The share prices of Inmarsat and Eutelsat both saw only modest
losses: Inmarsat traded 2.7% lower at 969 pence in early afternoon
trade in London, while Eutelsat was 1.3% lower at 3,049 euro
cents.
A Eutelsat spokeswoman said on Monday that it was too early to
assess the financial impact of the delay. Intelsat didn't
immediately respond to a request for comment.
--Ambroise Ecorcheville contributed to this article
Write to Ed Ballard at ed.ballard@wsj.com
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