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The satellite has seemed to be a revolutionary tool of communications, abolishing distances and frontiers. The communications satellite has been confronted, in practice, by the realities of the political, strategic and economic interests involved in the development of satellite communications systems. From the 1960s to the mid-1980s, governments dominated international cooperation aimed at operating satellites for communications. The second part of the 1980s showed a break, linked to the strong momentum for the deregulation of space communications. In both cases, the United States played a leading part. Now, space communications appear to be a privileged area of interactions between public and private actors, illustrating the evolution of the role of the State.