Eutelsat admits it cannot yet replace Starlink for Ukraine
www.pravda.com.ua
Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:36:43 +0300
Starlinks key competitor, Eutelsat, has acknowledged that it is currently unable to challenge Starlinks dominance in wartime communication support for Ukraine.
Source Politico, as reported by European Pravda Details Ukraine must continue to live with the risk that Elon Musk could disable the satellite connection used to support hospitals, military bases and troops, as there are no shortterm alternatives that match Starlinks capabilities.
The European Union is now looking for backup solutions, including through the FrancoBritish operator Eutelsat.
Working with Starlink is a dependence that can be decided in the White House or Trumps private residence MaraLago, said Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke.
Its good to have multiple options, she added.
However, Berneke admitted that current alternatives to Starlink, including Eutelsat, are not yet ready to fully replace it.
If we were to take over the entire connectivity capacity for Ukraine and all the citizens, we wouldnt be able to do that.
Lets just be very honest, Berneke said, adding that we can provide capacity for some of the critical use cases of government.
Few companies have invested in loworbit satellites, which are vital for realtime operations like drone warfare due to their lower latency and faster connections.
Yet these systems remain costly and difficult to scale.
Starlink, owned by Elon Musks SpaceX, dominates the market, with Eutelsat being the strongest competitor, while Amazons Project Kuiper still lags behind.
With over 7,000 satellites and compact, highperformance user kits, Starlinks network dwarfs Eutelsats 600 satellites and bulkier terminals.
Depending on usecase scenarios, Starlink offers between 23 to 490 times more bandwidth over Ukraine than Eutelsat.
Over 42,000 Starlink kits were reportedly sold in Ukraine last year.
Berneke suggested that it was not necessary to reach that number but added that it would be reasonable to have at least a couple of thousand as backup in critical locations.
Eutelsat is currently in talks with the EU to secure funding for shipping more kits to local users and possibly for launching new satellites to expand its bandwidth capacity in the coming years.
Discussions are indeed ongoing at the EU level, with our member states and with the industry, said European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier.
Background Earlier reports stated that Germany has been funding Ukraines access to Eutelsats satellite internet network.
In March, the Polish government said it had spent nearly US83 million on Starlink for Ukraine since the beginning of the fullscale invasion.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosaw Sikorski previously warned Elon Musk against using access to Starlink as leverage over Ukraine, reminding him that Poland is paying for the service.
Musk later stated that he would never disconnect Starlink from the Ukrainian military, even if he does not agree with the countrys policies.
Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon
Latest news
more news