|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Eutelsat said it is committed to supplying space-based internet access to Ukraine and improving Europe’s autonomy in space connectivity, after its shares rose nearly 70 percent on Monday.
The stock surge was part of a broader rise in European defence shares as investors predicted growing demand for OneWeb’s satellite services from European customers.
Paris-based Eutelsat, which acquired the UK’s OneWeb in 2022, said it had played a key role in Europe since the start of the Ukraine war.
European defence
“We have deployed and continue to operate hundreds of terminals across Ukraine and the Black Sea,” the company said.
Investors showed new interest in Europe-based defence firms after a meeting between US president Donald Trump and Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky degenerated into a shouting match on Friday.
The incident, which led to the cancellation of a planned minerals deal between the US and Ukraine, raised questions around the future provision of satellite internet from SpaceX’s Starlink in Europe.
OneWeb is Starlink’s only competition with low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites in the region, despite its constellation of 650 satellites being less than one-tenth the size of Starlink’s.
In February Reuters reported that US negotiators working on the Ukraine minerals deal hinted at a potential shutdown of Starlink services if the deal was not completed.
ING analysts said they expected European customers to manage risks related to individual suppliers and could look for additional capacity from other providers.
European demand
Last year Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar said it began testing OneWeb technologies with the military as OneWeb’s official Ukraine partner.
In February OneWeb said it successfully used a LEO satellite to connect a broadband terminal with a core 5G network using a next-generation 5G protocol called Release 17.
Last October Eutelsat launched and deployed 20 OneWeb satellites into low-Earth orbit in its first launch since the OneWeb acquisition.
OneWeb intends to have a 648 LEO satellite fleet that will deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband connectivity, covering the UK, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic Seas and Canada.
Eutelsat said in mid-February that revenues from OneWeb were lower than previously expected due to slower-than-expected deployment of OneWeb’s Earth “gateway” ground stations.
