France perceives Eutelsat as a strategic resource in the pursuit of the EU technological sovereignty.
Benoit Tessier AFP by Getty Images
France over the years Eutelsat He tried to build a European alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink Satellite Service Broadband Service.
The company merged with the British satellite Venture Oneweb in 2023, consolidating the satellite communication industry in the region to catch up in Starlink, which is the property of SpaceX.
Last week, the French state conducted an investment of EUR 1.35 billion ($ 1.58 billion) at Eutelsat, which makes it the company's largest shareholder from about 30% of shares.
Europe is largely behind the US in a global space race. Starlink constellation over 7,000 eutelsat dwarf satellites. Meanwhile, the possibilities of launching Europe are more limited than in the USA, the region is still largely based on America in some start -up services, which is the market dominated by SpaceX.
Eutelsat currently has a market capitalization of EUR 1.6 billion, much lower than the estimates for the value of the owner of Starlink Spacex, i.e. Equipped with $ 350 billion In the second sales of shares last year. In 2020 Analysts from Morgan Stanley said That they see that Starlink increases to $ 80.9 billion in its “basic valuation of cases” for the company.
Luke Kehoe, an industry analyst at the Ookla network monitoring company, said that the French investment in Eutelsat shows that the country “treats Eutelsat less as commercial Telco, and more like a supplier of critical infrastructure with double use” and “strategic act” in the pursuit of the European Union to strive for the European Union. technological sovereignty.
However, building a European competitor in Starlink will not be a feat.
The issue of scale
Experts from the communication industry say CNBC that although Eutelsat can increase Europe's efforts to create a sovereign satellite internet supplier, questioning Starlink competing in the US would require a significant increase in investment in low earthly orbit satellite satellite satellites (Leo).
Oneweb Arm Eutelsat supports a total of 650 Leo satellites, which is less than one tenth 7600 global satellite constellation Starlink.
“To ensure a larger capacity and range, (Eutelsat) must increase the number of satellites in space, the task is difficult due to the fact that many OneWeb satellites are approaching to the end of their lives and it will be necessary to replace first before increasing the size of the constellation”, “Joe Gardiner, analysis of tests on the CCS CCS market, said CNBC through E -Mail.
Kehoe Ookli repeated this view. “Eutelsat's chances of achieving the emergency of Starlink in the broadband broadband mass market segment in the next five years remain limited, taking into account the unparalleled Global SpaceX scale in the Leo infrastructure,” he said.
“Even with the latest injection of capital from the French state, Eutelsat still lags behind Starlink in several key areas, including capital, production capacity, access to launch, spectrum and user terminals.”
Nevertheless, he believes that the company is “well prepared to succeed in European segments, sensitive to security and enterprises that prioritize jurisdiction control and sovereignty over the power of strict constellation.” The company segment refers to the market for corporate space clients.
Can Eutelsat replace Starlink in Europe?
It's certainly hope. Emmanuel Macron from France called Europe to increase investment in space, saying last week that “space in a sense became a meter of international power.”
When Eutelsat announced its investment from France last week, the company emphasized its role “the only European operator called the Leo operational network”, as well as the “strategic role of the constellation Leo in France in the field of sovereign defense and space communication.”
At the beginning of this year, apparently, Eutelsat is involved in replacing Starlink in Ukraine. Over the years, Starlink has been offering Ukrainian military to his online satellite services to help in war efforts during the Russian invasion.
Relations between the USA and Ukraine accommodated after the election of the president Donald Trump And reports arose that the US negotiators raised the possibility of limiting Ukraine's access to Starlink.
In April, Germany established 1000 Eutelsat terminals in Ukraine in order to provide an alternative-not a replacement-in the case of 50,000 Starlink terminals in a torn war of the country.
Since then, US-Ukrain tension has cooled down a bit, and Starlink remains the main supplier of a broadband satellite Ukrainian army.
Former general director of Eutelsata, Eva Berneke, admitted that the company cannot adapt to the Starlink scale.
“If we were to take over all communication ability for Ukraine and all citizens – we would not be able to do it. Let's be very honest,” she – he said in an interview with Politico.
Berneke was replaced as a CEO in May by Jean-Francois-Fallacher, former director of the French telecommunications giant Orange.
Apples and oranges
Meanwhile, despite the fact that Eutelsat has increased investments in the Leo satellite with the OneWeb unit, experts say that his technical architecture and orbital projects ultimately differ from Starlink.
“Constellation Oneweb currently uses bent architecture, which is not as talented as Starlink satellites; that's why Oneweb will also have to invest in second generation satellites,” he added.
Cases of using a French company also differ from Starlink. Eutelsat conducts the constellation of the geostationary orbit (GEO), as well as Leo satellites. Geo satellites orbit the soil at a much higher height than their counterparts Leo and can usually cover more soil with fewer satellites.
“Satellites at higher Eutelsat heights are used for specialized cases of use, such as polar insurance for companies and research facilities in distant regions, such as Greenland and Alaska,” said Joe Vaccaro, vice president and general director in Cisco's A thousand Network intelligence unit.
Looking to the future, Eutelsat said he was planning to “resist operational improvements” with a “diverse market model” and “strong European anchoring.” He also noted that the UK government can also increase investments in Eutelsat “in the right time”.
