EQT's SatPort buys Speedcast's ground stations, with price pegged near $300 million by a person familiar

Deal details

EQT AB said it acquired Speedcast's ground stations business, using its satellite ground services platform SatPort Infrastructure as the buyer. A person with knowledge of the matter said the price was about $300 million and requested anonymity because the information is not public. EQT declined to discuss the terms, and Speedcast's representative didn't reply right away.

The deal includes 12 ground facilities - teleports - located on five continents. Roughly 100 Speedcast employees are slated to move to SatPort. Under a long-term service agreement, the acquired sites will continue handling Speedcast's satellite connectivity.

Strategy and why it matters

Ground stations are the on-ramps that connect satellites in orbit to telecom services on Earth. "Our ambition is to build the next generation of global infrastructure champions, take part in that growth, and establish this as a new digital infrastructure asset class," said Carl Sjölund, partner at EQT, who compared the model to mobile operators building and later spinning off tower portfolios. He added that EQT is betting demand for ground infrastructure will climb as more constellations become operational.

Speedcast, a Houston-based satellite communications provider backed by Centerbridge Partners LP, had weighed selling the unit last year, Bloomberg News previously reported. The deal also positions SatPort to support Telesat Corp.'s constellation under a September agreement with the Canadian company.

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The broader space race

Satellite infrastructure has taken center stage after Elon Musk's Starlink showed what large constellations can deliver for consumers, businesses and militaries. European governments aim to retain oversight of and entry to satellite infrastructure and spectrum to curb dependence on US providers, while US telecom companies are building alternative offerings to Starlink.

EQT has been widening its space footprint, investing in Exolaunch GmbH, The Exploration Company and Starcloud. In addition, the firm manages the European Union's Scaleup Europe Fund; that vehicle has supported Finnish satellite startup Iceye.

What this could mean for your portfolio

The takeaway: ground networks are being carved out as investable digital infrastructure, underpinned by long-term service contracts and rising satellite traffic. Watch for utilization tied to new constellations, follow-on buildouts as coverage expands, and how European and US policy may channel demand toward domestic ground networks.

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