According to the CEO of French rival Eutelsat Communications, negotiations with European leaders to replace Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite services in Ukraine have “intensified” during the last two weeks.
“We have been working with Starlink there up until now, but it’s obvious that everyone is asking us today, ‘Can you actually replace, especially the very large number of terminals that Starlink has across Ukraine?'” Eve Berneke, the CEO of the satellite operator with its headquarters in Paris, was quoted by Bloomberg News on Thursday as saying, “And that’s something we’re looking very actively at.”
As European defense-related companies surged Tuesday after Germany announced a major hike in expenditure to counter President Donald Trump’s sudden suspension of military aid to Ukraine, Eutelsat’s shares (FR:ETL) (ETCMY) (UK:ETL) recorded their biggest-ever one-day gain, 119%.
Following a brief meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House late last week, shares started to rise on Monday. As of now in 2025, the stock has increased 229%.
“It is a key element of modern warfare to have strong communications capabilities from space,” Berneke stated.
Since the beginning of the conflict, Starlink, which is run by Musk’s SpaceX, has been active in Ukraine, deploying thousands of terminals while Russia shut down its neighbor’s mobile and fixed-line networks. According to her, Eutelsat now has “a couple of thousand” terminals in Ukraine, compared to Starlink’s projected 40,000, and not all of them are connected to the network. “We’re talking several tens of times of that if we were to replace all of the Starlink terminals.”
Archival material (September 2023): According to Isaacson’s book, Musk disabled the Starlink system in order to thwart Ukraine’s strike on the Russian navy.
According to her, Eutelsat has a “multitude of terminal suppliers,” and they have some military and commercial grade stock that they could quickly deploy to Ukraine, albeit it would need financial and possibly logistical support. It would have to collaborate with suppliers as it does not produce its own terminals.
With stock on hand, Eutelsat might provide an additional 2,000 to Ukraine in the near future, she said. Starlink’s 40,000 would be matched in “a couple of months, not years.”
Berneke was also asked about talks with the Italian government, which Bloomberg reported Thursday had grown uneasy about closing a EUR1.5 billion, or $1.6 billion, deal with Starlink Italy amid the Trump administration’s pullback from long-running U.S. security commitments to European allies.
“What we know today in the discussions with the Italian government is that it’s very clear that the Italians have realized the need for low-earth constellations,” Berneke stated. “And they’re evaluating the options for Italy.”
She claimed that because of financial concerns, Italy doesn’t make sense to have its own constellation. According to her, Eutelsat can assist through its partnership with IRIS(2), a multiorbit satellite internet network that the EU plans to deploy in 2027.
