SpaceX pushes to close the market, but the US continues to look to Eutelsat.
The CEO of Eutelsat, a European satellite operator, told Reuters that US demand for alternative satellite services remains strong, despite pressure from Elon Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX, to limit European competitors’ access to the American market. American companies and the Department of Defense continue to show interest in diversified solutions to ensure reliability and operational continuity.
To date, Eutelsat’s OneWeb, with 630 satellites in low Earth orbit, is the second largest low Earth orbit constellation in the world after SpaceX’s Starlink, providing high-speed internet access in areas poorly served by terrestrial networks, despite being less than a tenth of its size. OneWeb’s low Earth orbit satellites are the same as SpaceX’s Starlink, whose constellation of 10,000 satellites provides internet access in 140 countries. Currently, Elon Musk’s satellite internet division makes SpaceX the largest satellite operator in the world.
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SPACEX PRESSURES THE FCC
In a letter sent on April 16 to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – the independent government agency responsible for regulating communications in the United States – SpaceX urged action to limit access to the US market for foreign satellite operators whose governments hinder or penalize American companies, Reuters reports.
In the document, SpaceX cited Ses, an operator based in Luxembourg that has benefited from access to the US market, without explicitly mentioning other European competitors such as Eutelsat. The company also called on the regulatory authority to respond to European regulatory initiatives such as the EU Space Act and the Digital Networks Act, which are considered potentially restrictive for US businesses.
EUTELSAT’S POSITION
“Obviously, we are aware of the new geopolitical context… it is not surprising that American companies are pushing for less regulation,” Jean-Francois Fallacher, CEO of Eutelsat, said in an interview with Reuters.
“European space legislation is moving in the right direction. We want to protect space, we want to carefully examine how to ensure its safety. We all know that greater coordination in space will be needed,” he added.
US DEMAND AND RELATIONS WITH THE PENTAGON
Eutelsat, supported by the French and British governments and the main European competitor to Starlink, recorded a slowdown last year in renewing some contracts with the Pentagon, in a context of broader public spending cuts implemented by the administration of President Donald Trump.
Despite this, Fallacher emphasized that US demand has not weakened. The company, which serves commercial, government, and military clients, provides satellite services to the US Department of Defense through an intermediary company.
“There is interest in the United States,” he said. “Both companies and the Department of Defense are interested in alternative solutions, for reasons of reliability and redundancy.”
THE EUROPEAN SATELLITE OPERATOR’S PURSUIT
Last February, the European satellite operator announced it had secured financing of 975 million euros from the Agence de Crédit à l’Exportation (Ace), for an order of satellites for its OneWeb constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO).
The financing, guaranteed by a consortium of private banks with coverage from the French Treasury, aims to support the purchase of new satellites and strengthen the group’s financial structure.
This is not Paris’s first intervention towards the satellite operator: last June the company announced a recapitalization of 1.35 billion euros, which saw the French state allocate 717 million euros, becoming once again the largest shareholder, with 29.9% of the capital, compared to the current 13%. But it doesn’t end there. Recently, the French government, through veto power, blocked the agreement with Eutelsat to sell its terrestrial infrastructure (antennas and circuits) to the Swedish fund EQT for about 550 million, an operation that would have helped reduce debt.
According to the Paris Ministry of Finance, the investment will help the company owning the world’s second largest low Earth orbit satellite constellation to compete with Musk’s network and beyond. Other rivals also include Amazon Leo’s satellite internet service (formerly Project Kuiper) from the tech giant founded by Jeff Bezos and the Canadian Telesat.
