EU asks Eutelsat, SES to become alternative to Starlink for Ukraine

Europe is proposing to fund a homegrown alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink, following US threats to switch off the dominant satellite company’s broadband services in Ukraine, Report informs via Financial Times.

In a boost to the bloc’s struggling satellite operators, the European Commission’s defence white paper last week said that Brussels “should . . . fund Ukrainian [military] access to services that can be provided by EU-based commercial providers”.

Miguel Ángel Panduro, chief executive of Spain’s Hispasat, told the Financial Times that Brussels had asked his company, Eutelsat, and SES to present an “inventory” of services for Ukraine.

“These are capabilities we could offer right now,” he said. The prospect of a new European push for space sovereignty has boosted shares in heavily indebted operators such as Eutelsat and SES in recent weeks. But even with EU funding, success will not come easy.

Starlink has 40,000 terminals in Ukraine serving consumers, government and, in particular, the military on the front line. Troops have even strapped Starlink’s compact user terminals on to drones to transmit live video footage to help direct attacks.

No single European network can replicate such a wide variety of applications, say industry experts. Instead, a European solution would be made up of a patchwork of satellites in different orbits, offering differing performances and requiring different user terminals for different networks.

“Today, there is no substitute for Starlink,” said Panduro. “But there may be alternatives that, without being a substitute, can help to alleviate the absence of those capabilities.” A senior executive at a rival satellite operator put it more bluntly: “Starlink is so disruptive, so cheap, so pervasive, and so excellent.”

At the heart of the problem lies the failure of legacy operators, in Europe and more widely, to match the agility of Starlink. Many assumed the challenges of operating in space would protect them from disruption while they tried to offset declining broadcast revenues with new connectivity businesses.