Various reports on a proposed $1.5 billion Italian plan for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites talk of the agreement being ‘cancelled’ or ‘paused’ or ‘stalled’. In its place Eutelsat’s CEO has addressed the dilemma and specifically talking up Eutelsat’s ability to fill the Italian gap.
Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke told French parliamentarians that “Starlink ties Italy very closely to the US but as you have seen with Ukraine, it requires a continuation of good relations with Elon Musk to guarantee sovereignty.”
In other words, perhaps: ‘Don’t trust the US’. Meanwhile, the European Union is racing to find a replacement to Starlink for Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe where guarantee of service must be paramount.
Eutelsat’s thoughts include its own OneWeb, easily supplied today, as well as the planned €10 billion 280-craft IRIS2 mega-constellation scheme although that’s not likely to be available until around 2031.
“2031 may be a bit far away […] we’re in talks with both the military and the Italian government about what to buy before IRIS2 arrives,” Berneke stated on March 26th.
Berneke explained: “[Starlink] uses “’best efforts’, no guarantees” in their contracts, Berneke said of Starlink. Eutelsat has a service-level guarantee in its offer. Having started out as a consumer-oriented provider, Starlink has now developed a production line that the IRIS2 contractors cannot get close to.
She added: “They build millions of terminals. We build a several 10s of thousands,” Berneke said. “You can buy [a Starlink terminal] for €500 ($540) – less expensive than our least expensive terminals, which cost around €3,000.”
The other dilemma is the supply chain, which for Eutelsat has been largely non-European (and includes Hughes, Intellian and Kymeta). Add in South Korean chipsets, and satellite antennas from Canada, plus all their component related parts, and it is a supply nightmare.
She told parliamentarians that “We developed an anti-jam system for our terminals in Ukraine. We have that now. Koreans, Americans and others have made the terminals. For IRIS2 this is one of the biggest issues, to develop a European production line.”
Miguel Ángel Panduro, CEO at Spain’s Hispasat, told the FT that Brussels had asked his company, Eutelsat, and SES to present an “inventory” of services for Ukraine. “These are capabilities we could offer right now,” he said.
“It is impossible to replace Starlink in a day,” SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh told the FT. However, in the longer-term Europe could do so, he added. “A single orbit network is not resilient enough. You need multi-orbit for resilience, for backup, for being able to move traffic around.”
But Eutelsat’s OneWeb has some limitations. Its terminals are sophisticated, but expensive when compared with a Starlink terminal. They are also much bulkier and more complex to set up compared with Starlink’s ‘plug and play’ design.
However, it seems that Eutelsat’s solution for Italy is for a combination of OneWeb, plus perhaps SES’s mPOWER mid-Earth fleet and Eutelsat’s own geostationary satellites. In essence, this solution would be a precursor to the eventual IRIS2 scheme.
“We are the only Starlink alternative in Ukraine. A bad day in the White House could lead to a cessation of Starlink activity in Ukraine. That positions Eutelsat as a critical actor. That is part of the movement,” Berneke added.
The prospects that Eutelsat might win not only the Italian contract but other European business to replace Starlink has sent Eutelsat’s share price rocketing, and up 49 per cent on March 26th and another 6.3 per cent on March 27th (to €5.42 and at one point €6.09).
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