In a strategic move to challenge Elon Musk’s Starlink dominance in the satellite internet space, the United Kingdom and France have announced a joint initiative to support Eutelsat, aiming to build a stronger European alternative in low Earth orbit (LEO connectivity).
The partnership, revealed by officials in both countries, will see greater coordination of funding, technology sharing, and regulatory support for Eutelsat OneWeb, the merged entity formed from France’s Eutelsat and UK-backed OneWeb. The goal: to accelerate deployment of next-generation satellite constellations that can deliver high-speed internet globally—especially in rural, remote, and underserved regions.
This move reflects growing concerns in Europe over dependence on foreign-controlled satellite networks, particularly as Starlink, owned by SpaceX, continues rapid global expansion and increasingly plays a role in sensitive communications infrastructure, including in conflict zones like Ukraine.
A joint statement from the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and France’s Ministry of the Economy framed the partnership as a step toward “sovereign, secure, and resilient European space infrastructure.”
Eutelsat OneWeb currently operates a hybrid satellite constellation, with ambitions to scale up its low-Earth orbit capabilities and offer competitive latency and bandwidth to rivals like Starlink and Amazon’s upcoming Project Kuiper. The UK and France are expected to channel additional investment, streamline regulatory frameworks, and possibly bring in European space firms to speed up development.
Experts see the move as both a geopolitical signal and a commercial play: Europe is asserting its space autonomy while trying to stake a claim in the rapidly growing global satellite broadband market, expected to exceed $100 billion within the decade.
In the battle for the skies, the UK and France aren’t just looking up—they’re gearing up.
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