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The EU governments are negotiating with 4 European satellite companies to provide relevant services to Ukraine instead of Starlink.
Since the beginning of the criminal war unleashed by Russia in 2022, Starlink provided vital services to the Ukrainian military satellite communications. This allowed Ukrainian defenders to coordinate strikes using drones, prioritize enemy targets, and transmit data on the course of hostilities directly to units on the front line.
However, the EU is increasingly concerned that US President Donald Trump’s administration may order Starlink’s operations in Ukraine to be shut down, if Washington and Kyiv fail to sign a minerals agreement. Starlink CEO Elon Musk, who is close to Trump, denies such claims.
Nevertheless, the situation raises concerns about the security implications for Ukraine and Europe, which rely on the only private satellite network, whose CEO has close ties to the current US president. Negotiations on European alternatives to Starlink in Ukraine are currently underway.
The most promising candidate to replace Starlink in Ukraine is the French satellite company Eutelsat. Last week, the company’s CEO Eva Berneke confirmed to Bloomberg that she was in talks with the EU leadership about providing services in Ukraine. Eutelsat is also in talks with the Italian government, which has doubts about whether to choose Starlink network to receive services encrypted communication between government officials.
Other European companies that could replace Starlink in Ukraine are the British Inmarsat, Luxembourg-based SES, and Spain’s Hisdesat. Hisdesat CEO Miguel Ángel García Primo confirmed that his company, which also provides encrypted government communications services, has been contacted by several European officials
However, even if there is a wide range of companies willing to work in Ukraine, it will not be easy to replace Starlink. Elon Musk’s company operates more than 7 thousand satellites in Earth orbit. About 40 thousand Starlink terminals are used in Ukraine alone.
According to Eva Berneke, her company Eutelsat can match the number of Starlink terminals in Ukraine in a few months. Currently, about 2 thousand terminals of the French company are already in use in Ukraine.
Will there be alternative to Starlink Whether this will include a network of different operators or just one is unclear at this stage. In any case, these four companies are probably the best option for Europe right now to cut ties with Musk’s firm and put the region’s satellite communications in more reliable hands
In the long run Europe is betting on IRIS² — a planned multi-orbit Internet satellite constellation scheduled for launch in 2030.
Source: The Next Web