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Viasat, Inc. VSAT recently completed the divestiture of its Energy Services System Integration (SI) business to a U.S.-based private investment firm, MAG Capital Partners, for an undisclosed amount. The move aligns with Viasat's ongoing strategy to actively manage its portfolio by divesting non-core assets and enhance its financial position by focusing on core business growth.
VSAT’s Strategic Restructuring
Viasat acquired the SI business through the purchase of RigNet, Inc., a leading provider of networking solutions and specialized applications, in 2021. The division provides a range of services, including engineering design, procurement services, shop assembly, factory acceptance testing and ongoing support for telecom systems used in critical infrastructure projects.
Post-divestiture, approximately 80 employees linked with the business will join the newly formed company, Nessco, highlighting a seamless transition without planned facility closures. This move underscores Viasat’s commitment to sharpen its focus on creating innovative global communication solutions that serve diverse sectors, including communication, defense and governments worldwide.
VSAT’s Focus on Core Business Growth
Viasat’s Satellite Services business is progressing well, with key metrics, including ARPU (average revenue per user) and revenues, showing impressive growth. ARPU is growing due to a solid retail distribution network, which accounts for a rising proportion of the high-value and high-bandwidth subscriber base.
Furthermore, the growing adoption of in-flight Wi-Fi services in commercial aircraft is proving conducive to business growth. Viasat’s impressive bandwidth productivity differentiates it from conventional and lower-yield satellite providers that run on incumbent business models. It has a competitive advantage in bandwidth economics, global coverage, flexibility and bandwidth allocation, which makes it believe that mobile broadband will act as a profit churner with a significant improvement in in-flight connectivity revenues.
The company recently collaborated with Defense Innovation Unit (“DIU”) to provide critical networking capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Replicator initiative. Under the DIU's Opportunistic, Resilient & Innovative Expeditionary Network Topology project, it will deliver a cutting-edge Multi-Domain Uncrewed Secure Integrated Communications (“MUSIC”) architecture, which leverages software-defined networking (SDN) to ensure resilient connectivity for autonomous systems.
The MUSIC solution is an advanced configuration of Viasat’s NetAgility SDN that facilitates secure and reliable communication for autonomous systems operating in complex, contested environments. By utilizing multiple transport pathways, the solution enables secure command and control communications, ensuring that information can be shared efficiently across disparate systems in support of mission-critical operations.
Viasat is also ramping up investments in developing its revolutionary ViaSat-3 broadband communications platform, which will have nearly 10 times the bandwidth capacity of ViaSat-2. These satellites will be capable of covering one-third of the world, including the Americas.