In discussions with four European satellite companies, the EU governments lead to the provision of a backup service for Starlink in Ukraine, as the region is urging the technical sovereignty in the middle of the assembly transatlantic tensions.
Starlink has made an important communication system available to the Ukrainian military since Russia's full invasion began in 2022. The armed forces can coordinate drone attacks, identify goals and stream Bach Battlefield data at troops on site in real time.
However, European leaders are increasingly concerned about relying on Starlink – fears of A Reuters Report that US officials had threatened to cut off the system in Ukraine if the country had not met its demands for sharing its mineral assets. Elon Musk, CEO of the parent company of Starlink SpaceX, refuted the claims. Nevertheless, the situation has raised doubts about the security effects of Ukraine – and the broader Europe – to a single, private network, whose boss has directly to the Trump administration.
In response to this, the discussions with European alternatives to Starlink are in full swing. Taking the pack is the French/British satellite provider Eutelsat. The company CEO, Eva Berneke, confirmed Bloomberg Last week it was in talks with the EU to expand the Internet service to Ukraine. Berneke said that Eutelsat was also in “very positive conversations” with Italy, its The government discusses violently Whether you want to choose Starlink to provide encrypted communications for government officials.
Three other companies – the British Inmarsat, Luxembourg's SES and Spain's Hisdeseat – told him Finance times They also discussed with governments and EU institutions on the provision of security connectivity for Ukraine. Miguel Ángel García Primo, CEO from Heisdeseat, who offers governments secure satellite communication, said his company had been contacted by several European officials.
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However, replacing Starlink will not be easy. Starlink is by far the largest satellite comms provider with over 7,000 probes in low earth and 40,000 terminals alone in Ukraine.
Bernke, however, was optimistic about Eutelsat's skills. She said that the company could be “probably in a few months” the terminal number of Starlink in Ukraine. Eutelsat already has 2,000 terminals in the country looking for the war.
It is unclear in this phase whether a Starlink-Backup service includes a network of different operators or just one. In both cases, these four companies are probably the best option in Europe to bring relationships with Musk's company and the region's satellite communication into safer hands.
In the long term, Europe has its bets on Iris²A planned multi-orbit satellite internet constellation that is expected to switch on in 2030. There are also reports about one Airbus Leonardo-Thales Alenia room Joint venture With the name “Project Bromo”, which could challenge Starlink's global dominance.
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