Intelsat: IA-7 orbiter operational

Intelsat said today it had restored service on a portion of the transponders of its Intelsat Americas-7 satellite, which earlier this week appeared to have been permanently lost after a sudden and pervasive electrical malfunction.

The Bermuda-based company issued a statement saying that “contact and control of the satellite has been regained. Service restoration is underway, with several key customers expected to be operational on IA-7 by the end of the day.”

The electrical problem, which happened in the early morning hours of Nov. 28, knocked out service to IA-7 customers, including several broadband carriers and other users. Intelsat said it was able to offer many of those customers capacity through alternate satellites.

The company stated that the exact cause of the anomaly is still being investigated, in cooperation with Space Systems/Loral, the satellite's manufacturer, and Loral Skynet, each of whom participated in the recovery effort.

The problem was thought to have threatened the ability of Intelsat to close its pending $3.1 billion merger with Zeus Holdings Ltd. As of Friday, Zeus Holdings was continue its evaluation of the situation, according to Intelsat.