By Nick Mitsis

Nearly a year in the making, Intelsat Ltd. announced the closing of its merger with Panamsat Holding Corp. July 3. The deal expands Intelsat’s fleet to 51 owned and operated satellites, making it the largest fixed satellite service provider in the world. The new Intelsat also has five satellites under construction — while eliminating plans to order three more spacecraft, according to James Frownfelter, Intelsat’s new COO. On the ground, the company has eight owned teleports and sales offices in London, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Intelsat acquired all of the outstanding common shares of Panamsat for approximately $3.2 billion, and the total value of the transaction, including Panamsat debt that was refinanced or remained outstanding, is approximately $6.4 billion.

Now comes the hard part.

While this past year was centered on closing the deal, the next 18 months will focus on final integration of personnel and business units. Even though much of the work force is already established, and the new company expects to have about 1,000 employees, though final reductions will continue for the near-term while new company business plans are cemented.

It is the development and execution of these business plans that will determine the success of the deal.

What Intelsat executives truly purchased was Panamsat’s established North American video portfolio. An entertainment and media cache that includes customers such as the British Broadcasting Corp., News Corp., Time Warner and Walt Disney Co. Strengthening, not merely maintaining, such accounts and developing new relationships will fuel Intelsat’s future success.

Another area in which the new Intelsat is better positioned to grow is in the area of convergence, as the company enhances its ability to offer competitive voice, video and data packages to its global customers through hybrid transmissions customers.

David McGlade, CEO of Intelsat, along with his new executive lineup comprised primarily of Panamsat officials, now sits in a more competitive position to provide new offerings to customers. If this new executive team can successfully integrate their respective strengths — McGlade’s mobile communications know-how and the video expertise of the former Panamsat executives — the new Intelsat will be able to marry its traditional telephony and strong data network offering with next-generation video platforms, creating a strong "one-stop-shop" global powerhouse.

Such developments will be key in Intelsat’s competition with the remaining global satellite powerhouses, SES and Eutlesat, both already strong in video distribution and network platforms throughout Europe, Africa and Asia.

On the military side, the acquisition supplements Intelsat’s already solid foundation with the U.S. Department of Defense. This division now truly stands to grow its non-warfigther service offerings, providing disaster recovery services and offering smaller government organizations more complete global networks for ensured communication and network connectivity.

Time, ultimately will determine the success or failure of the new Intelsat, but this satellite operator has a strong chance to dominate the North American market and becoming a significantly stronger contender on the global scene as well.