Eutelsat offers itself as a replacement for Starlink in Ukraine

The EU Commission wants to help Ukraine secure capacities for satellite communication. According to a Reuters report, Elon Musk has threatened to withdraw Kiev's access to his Starlink network. One candidate for an alternative is the Franco-British satellite operator Eutelsat. According to its CEO Eva Berneke, talks with the Commission are picking up speed. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, the Danish engineer explained that she is often asked whether Eutelsat could "replace the large number of Starlink terminals in Ukraine" in view of the doubts about the USA's loyalty to the alliance under President Donald Trump and Musk's actions. The company is currently looking into this.

Eutelsat is already active in Ukraine and currently has thousands of terminals there, but not all of them are connected to the network, Berneke explained according to Bloomberg. The company is currently talking to suppliers to provide both special military reception hardware and standard terminals. She expects it to take "a few months" to make 40,000 satellite dishes available in Ukraine. This roughly corresponds to the current number of Starlink terminals in the country attacked by Russia. However, according to Berneke, Eutelsat needs financial and logistical support to rapidly increase the number of relevant data relay stations in Ukraine.

The company's OneWeb network has around 630 satellites in orbit at an altitude of 1200 kilometers in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) above the earth. They are supported by 35 linked satellites in a higher geostationary orbit. Starlink's approximately 7000 artificial earth satellites are in a lower LEO orbit at an altitude of 550 kilometers. This means that Musk's operating company SpaceX needs more satellites to cover the globe. However, the shorter distance also enables a faster connection and is considered more suitable for data communication.

The EU is striving for digital sovereignty

There are also price differences: Eutelsat charges up to 10,000 US dollars for OneWeb terminals. In addition, there is the monthly subscription price, which is 30, 45 or 70 euros depending on the download speed. Starlink charges users in the Ukraine a one-off payment of 589 US dollars and a monthly fee of between 95 and 440 US dollars depending on usage.

Starlink is considered an important communication service for the Ukrainian military in its three-year war with Russia after the attackers paralyzed part of the country's telecommunications infrastructure. The network is used for drone control, for example, but also for the operation of critical infrastructure.

"The European Commission recognizes the strategic importance of a sovereign, secure and robust European satellite connection," emphasized a spokesperson for the Brussels-based government institution. He confirmed that talks were taking place with the industry. According to him, Kiev has also already signaled its interest in using the EU's existing Govsatcom program for linking and sharing satellite services between member states as well as the planned "Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security through Satellites" (IRIS2). However, this Starlink alternative is still under construction.

Polish digital minister warns Musk

French MEP Christophe Grudler from the Liberals recently appealed to the EU executive to urgently examine "all possible alternative satellite solutions that the EU could offer Ukraine" instead of Starlink. He emphasized that speeding up the deployment of Govsatcom this year by skipping the certification process should serve as a stopgap during the development of IRIS2.

Ukraine announced last year that it had about 42,000 Starlink terminals in operation in the country, about half of which were financed by Poland. Recently, Warsaw ordered 5000 more receivers for its neighbors. The government there is reacting all the more sensitively to the alleged threat of discontinuation. Polish Digital Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski is already warning of a "major international crisis" if Musk blocks Ukraine's Starlink access: "I can't imagine a situation in which a business relationship between Poland and a US company would suddenly be interrupted."

Starlink has already lost orders due to the current discussions and the close relationship between Musk and Trump. The Canadian state of Ontario, for example, has terminated its contract with the operator, as its Premier Doug Ford reported this week. The Italian government is also said to be having doubts about the conclusion of a 1.5 billion euro deal with Starlink. According to Berneke, Eutelsat is in talks with Rome about providing secure satellite communications. The Mexican telecommunications company América Móvil has also ended its cooperation with Starlink, writes Mexico Daily. As a result, Musk lost around 7 billion US dollars, as the company had distributed the satellite internet in 25 countries.

(nen)