Intelsat, Eutelsat Granted New U.S. Waivers

The U.S. gave European satellite companies Intelsat SA I -1.58% and Eutelsat ETL.FR +0.88% Communications SA another six months to win back Iran's business lost after lawmakers barred them from transmitting Iranian programming.

Russian and Middle East rivals quickly picked up the transmission business, and while the revenue lost doesn't amount to a lot of money, the firms are eager to reclaim it.

The Luxembourg and French satellite companies were forced to abandon their Iran businesses when authorities in the U.S. and Europe imposed bans in 2012 on working with state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Earlier this month, Secretary of State John Kerry decided to extend by six months a waiver that allows satellite companies to go back to beaming Iranian state-run television to Iranians and Farsi language audiences abroad, according to a senior State Department official.

The companies say they have had to push hard, and have regained some of the business they lost. Both companies said the amount of revenue lost was immaterial.

"Our business level there has not returned to its previous state," said Dianne VanBeber, an Intelsat spokeswoman.

Unlike other sanctions aimed at rolling back Iran's nuclear capabilities, U.S. lawmakers imposed the ban to punish Iran over allegations that it aired forced confessions and jammed international satellite signals carrying news channels like BBC Persian Television.

After discussions between U.S. and Iranian diplomats last year produced a commitment from Iran to stop satellite jamming, Secretary Kerry waived the ban in February for a six-month trial period that ended this month.

The waiver allowed Intelsat and Eutelsat to re-enter the country and try to win back IRIB's business.

"It wasn't a huge amount of revenue but it was business we lost," said Ms. VanBeber.

U.S. officials view Iran's commitment to not block satellite signals from Western broadcasters as a discrete win amid the larger diplomatic tug of war with Tehran over its nuclear program. Since the ban was eased in February, the State Department has verified that Iran has stopped jamming programming delivered by international satellites, the department official said, leading Mr. Kerry to extend the waiver for another 180 days.

But human rights advocates say Tehran hasn't earned the diplomatic carrot. They acknowledge that Tehran has stopped jamming the satellites, but say Iran now disrupts broadcasts on the ground by jamming broadcasts as they are delivered to homes, often using equipment loaded on the backs of trucks that prowl neighborhoods. And critics of the regime allege that forced confessions carried on Iranian TV have increased over the past six months.

"There is no justification to renew this waiver," said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. "The reason for sanctioning IRIB has not changed. Iran is still stopping signals from reaching their recipients. They use the broadcasts for their own propaganda purposes, while stopping Iranians from viewing international broadcasts."

Suzanne Maloney, an Iran expert at the Brookings Institution, said that on-the-ground jamming of TV signals isn't as effective as jamming satellites. "There's a vast differential between the jamming you can do with a few guys in a truck and blocking it at the source," Ms. Maloney said.

Even if some jamming is still taking place, the ability of many Iranians to view BBC Persian Television and the U.S. government's Voice of America Persian service is an important development, Ms. Maloney said. "They provide an outside source of information in [Farsi]. That is rare among the options Iranian have," she said.

For the satellite companies, the shifting policy has complicated business. After decades broadcasting in Iran, the U.S. ban forced Intelsat to cutoff service last year. IRIB soon brought its business to Russian competitors, said Intelsat's Ms. VanBeber. The company was allowed to re-enter the market in February, she said. "Now we'll have to win the business back."

But winning back the business is complicated by the fact that Intelsat can only commit to the six month window currently allowed by the waiver—media customers often buy capacity for five years or more. "It adds this whole other layer to how we do business. We have to be very careful about the commitments we make with this customer," Ms. VanBeber said. "It's challenging. Our inventory is not like a gadget, if it doesn't sell this quarter we can't sell it next quarter. It's perishable."

The waiver has also allowed Eutelsat, which says it had its satellites jammed by Iranian authorities as far back as 2009, to again beam IRIB broadcasts. A spokeswoman said it wouldn't be feasible for a satellite provider to monitor content for forced confessions or other televised human rights abuses. "We believe that's the responsibility of regulators," she said. "Each party has to do their own job. The main thing for us is to be compliant with the relevant parties."

Write to Joel Schectman at [email protected]