Thought Leadership
The LEO business of the French group Eutelsat is growing by 84%. Authorities outside the USA in particular are increasingly turning to alternatives to Elon Musk’s Starlink service.
Eutelsat reports a significant jump in revenues for satellite services in low earth orbit for the financial year 2025. The LEO (Low Earth Orbit) segment increased by 84.1% to 186.8 million euros. At the same time, revenue with government customers increased by 24.1% to EUR 211 million.
Geopolitical tensions as a growth driver
The Paris-based company also attributes this positive development to changing geopolitical conditions. Governments are increasingly looking for alternatives to US satellite providers such as SpaceX. Although Starlink proved to be a reliable communications service provider during the war in Ukraine, “contradictory signals” from the Trump administration are causing uncertainty among international customers.
According to Eutelsat, the government business benefited from “LEO-based solutions, particularly through services in Ukraine, as well as increased demand from other non-US governments”. The fourth quarter closed with revenues of EUR 65 million – an increase of 40.9% compared to the previous year.
Billion-euro order from France
Eutelsat has reached an important milestone with a framework agreement worth one billion euros with the French Ministry of Defense. According to the company, the deal demonstrates the “increased demand from sovereign customers against the backdrop of a changing geopolitical environment”.
To finance the network expansion, Eutelsat is planning a capital increase of 1.5 billion euros. The money is to flow into the expansion of the LEO constellation.
OneWeb versus Starlink: David against Goliath
Eutelsat’s LEO capacities mainly come from the OneWeb constellation with around 650 satellites. By comparison, Starlink’s fleet already comprises over 6,000 satellites.
The smaller number of satellites makes it difficult for Eutelsat to develop a serious alternative to Starlink. To make matters worse, many OneWeb satellites are already reaching the end of their service life. While SpaceX regularly launches new Starlink satellites, Eutelsat has only ordered 100 additional satellites in December 2024 and has planned a further 340 to replace the existing fleet.
