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Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT): Satellite Broadband, Ground Networks & Defense Communications
Viasat is a Carlsbad, California satellite communications company that owns a 23-satellite fleet across Ka-, L-, and S-bands and builds most of the ground infrastructure — gateways, modems, terminals, and secure networking hardware — that turns that fleet into a service. Roughly 4,580 commercial aircraft and 13,200 vessels connect through it. So, increasingly, does the US military.
Who they are
Mark Dankberg co-founded Viasat in 1986 and, unusually for a company of this vintage, still runs it as chairman and CEO. The company began in defense communications — encryption, secure radios, tactical networking — and only later became a consumer-facing satellite broadband provider. That original DNA turns out to matter a great deal to how Viasat looks in 2026.
The defining strategic move of the last decade was the 2023 acquisition of Inmarsat, the British operator whose L-band network had been the backbone of maritime and aviation safety communications for forty years. The deal gave Viasat near-global coverage, a second frequency band, and the mobility customer base that now anchors its commercial business. It also gave Viasat a great deal of debt, which has shaped every capital allocation decision since.
Viasat today reports in two segments: Communication Services (aviation, maritime, fixed broadband, government satcom) and Defense and Advanced Technologies (information security, cyber defense, tactical networking, space and mission systems). The second one is the one growing.
What they do
Viasat is vertically integrated in a way few satellite operators are. It designs the payloads, operates the satellites, builds the ground gateways, writes the modem waveforms, and manufactures the terminals that go on aircraft and ships. Very little of the stack is bought in.
- In-flight connectivity — around 4,580 commercial aircraft and 2,100 business jets, making Viasat one of the two dominant IFC providers globally.
- Maritime — roughly 13,200 vessels, including the NexusWave multi-orbit bonded service that combines Viasat's own capacity with third-party LEO capacity.
- Fixed broadband — about 130,000 US subscribers, a business that has been shrinking for years as terrestrial and LEO alternatives arrive.
- Government satcom and defense — secure dual-band terminals, encryption and cyber defense products, tactical gateways, and space and mission systems. Segment awards reached $1.6 billion in fiscal 2026.
Hanging over all of it is ViaSat-3, a three-satellite Ka-band constellation each spacecraft of which was designed to carry roughly a terabit per second. Flight 1 suffered a reflector deployment failure in 2023 — an expensive, well-documented setback. Flight 2 completed in-orbit testing and is expected to enter service by September 2026; Flight 3 completed its reflector and boom deployment and is expected to enter service over Asia-Pacific in late August or early September 2026. After a decade of build, the capacity is about to arrive more or less all at once.
How they make money
Communication Services sells capacity and connectivity on recurring contracts — per-aircraft, per-vessel, per-subscriber. Defense and Advanced Technologies sells products and services to governments on programme contracts, which is why its backlog and awards figures matter more than its quarterly revenue.
Fiscal 2026 (ended 31 March 2026) was a record year on the top line: revenue of $4.6 billion, new contract awards of $4.9 billion, and backlog of $4.1 billion, with Defense and Advanced Technologies backlog up 23% year over year. Independent R&D spending ran to $164.9 million.
The first quarter of fiscal 2027, reported on 4 August 2026, showed the tension in the model clearly. Revenue was $1.16 billion, down 1% year over year and short of consensus. Communication Services was flat at $825 million as aviation and government satcom growth was offset by declines in fixed broadband and maritime. Defense and Advanced Technologies revenue rose 4% to $331 million — but its contract awards jumped 22% to a record $524 million, including a US Space Force award for a maneuverable geostationary satellite under the Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global programme. Total backlog hit a record $4.2 billion, free cash flow rose 19% to $72 million, and net leverage improved to 3.2x.
Management reiterated fiscal 2027 guidance of mid-single-digit revenue growth, capital expenditure of $950 million to $1.0 billion, and free cash flow of roughly $180 million. Capital intensity, in other words, remains the constraint.
Where it sits in the value chain
Fig. — Viasat's position in the space value chain
Viasat is mapped to Stage 4: Ground Systems & Infrastructure, which needs a word of explanation, because the company plainly also operates satellites and sells connectivity. The reason is that Viasat's distinctive competence — the part that isn't easily replicated by a well-funded newcomer — is the ground segment: the gateway network, the modem and waveform IP, the terminals, and the secure networking stack it sells to defense customers who will never buy a subscription from anyone.
Put differently, a company can buy satellite capacity. It cannot easily buy an installed base of 4,580 aircraft radomes, a certified defense encryption line, and thirty years of waveform patents. That's the ground segment, and that's where Viasat's defensibility lives.
The bigger trend
Two structural shifts are reshaping this part of the industry, and Viasat is exposed to both.
The first is multi-orbit. For twenty years, satellite broadband meant picking geostationary (high capacity per satellite, high latency) or low-Earth-orbit (low latency, enormous fleet cost). The industry has largely stopped arguing and started bonding the two together, routing traffic across whichever orbit suits the moment. Viasat's NexusWave maritime service does exactly this, and it changes the competitive question from "whose satellites are better" to "who owns the terminal and the routing intelligence."
The second is defense demand. Government spending on secure, jam-resistant, proliferated satellite communications has risen sharply, and it rewards exactly the capabilities — encryption, tactical networking, space domain systems — that legacy defense-heritage companies already have. This is why Viasat's Defense and Advanced Technologies segment keeps outgrowing the commercial side, and why activist investor Carronade Capital has pushed for the segment to be separated so that the market values it independently. Management has said it continues to evaluate the structure of the defense business; nothing has been decided.
Underneath both trends sits the uncomfortable arithmetic of capital intensity. Building satellites is expensive, and the industry's answer is increasingly to share infrastructure rather than duplicate it — a model Dankberg has argued for publicly, comparing it to the way mobile carriers stopped each building their own towers.
What to watch
A few threads worth following for Viasat:
- ViaSat-3 F2 and F3 entering service — both are expected online around late August to September 2026. The question is not whether they work but how quickly the added capacity converts into revenue rather than sitting idle.
- Defense segment structure — a spin-off, separation, or continued integration of Defense and Advanced Technologies is an open strategic question that management has repeatedly said it is evaluating.
- Fixed broadband decline versus stabilisation — management expects US subscriber losses to continue until ViaSat-3 F2 is in service, then stabilise. That's a testable claim with a near-term deadline.
- Leverage and capital intensity — net leverage improved to 3.2x, but fiscal 2027 capex is guided at $950 million to $1.0 billion. Free cash flow of roughly $180 million against that spend is the balance to track.
Related companies
Viasat overlaps with other ground infrastructure suppliers and competes with the satellite broadband operators one stage downstream.
FAQ
What does Viasat do besides in-flight Wi-Fi?
In-flight connectivity is the most visible business but not the largest story. Viasat also serves roughly 13,200 vessels with maritime connectivity, about 130,000 US fixed broadband households, and government satcom customers — and runs a Defense and Advanced Technologies segment covering encryption, cyber defense, tactical networking, and space and mission systems, which booked $1.6 billion of awards in fiscal 2026.
What is ViaSat-3?
A three-satellite Ka-band constellation, each spacecraft designed for roughly a terabit per second of capacity. Flight 1 suffered a reflector deployment failure after launch in 2023. Flight 2 has completed in-orbit testing and is expected to enter service by September 2026, and Flight 3 is expected to enter service over Asia-Pacific in late August or early September 2026.
Why did Viasat buy Inmarsat?
The 2023 acquisition gave Viasat near-global coverage, added L-band to its Ka-band fleet, and brought in Inmarsat's long-established maritime and aviation mobility customer base — the safety-of-life and government relationships built over decades. It also added substantial debt, which is why deleveraging has been a recurring theme in Viasat's capital allocation since.
Is Viasat spinning off its defense business?
No decision has been announced. Activist investor Carronade Capital has publicly pushed for a separation of the Defense and Advanced Technologies segment, arguing it would be valued more highly on its own, and Viasat management has said it continues to review the portfolio and the structure of that business. As of the August 2026 results, it remains an open question rather than a plan.
Sources referenced
Company filings and investor relations (investors.viasat.com) · Viasat FY2026 proxy statement (SEC) · Via Satellite on Q1 FY2027 results and ViaSat-3 service entry · FY2026 annual report summary (fleet and customer counts)
This page tracks publicly disclosed business activity for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment advice, and inclusion here is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Fleet status, financial figures, and corporate structure change quickly — verify current details before making decisions. Last updated: August 2026.