Intelsat confirmed to Mobile World Live it had made a Series-B investment in Lynk Global, joining fellow satellite player SES in making the move ahead of their proposed merger in the second half of this year.

A representative for Intelsat said the company started partnership talks with the direct-to-device (D2D) provider about two years ago before closing the arrangement last month.

With its minority stake in Lynk Global in hand, Intelsat CTO Bruno Fromont has also joined its board of directors, according to the representative.

The representative confirmed the partnership use cases include distribution of Lynk Global’s services to government and mobility customer worldwide.

Similar to its arrangement with SES, Lynk Global and Intelsat will also develop new low earth orbit (LEO) satellites together and find ways to broaden D2D services from SOS messaging and texting to include voice and data.

Lynk Global set a target to raise $215 million in the funding round when it released details about the move in February. As of that filing, Lynk Global has raised more than $85 million.

Lynk Global has ties to Intelsat as CEO Ramu Potarazu formerly served as president and COO during a 16-year career with the company.

Potarazu replaced Dan Dooley as CEO in November 2024 after the latter was appointed to the position in September.

Lynk Global declined to comment on the investment by Intelsat.