A little over a year ago, the British OneWeb satellite company and French Eutelsat announced a merger agreement whereby Eutelsat would acquire all of OneWeb’s shares with the exception of one special share owned by the British government. This process was completed last September, resulting the creation of a new organization: Eutelsat Group.
According to statements by the companies, this strategic alliance is born with purpose of combining the various technological capabilities of each of them to achieve a greater preeminence in the connectivity market. For its part, Eutelsat offers its specialization on geostationary (GEO) satellites for radio and television broadcasting.
While OneWeb provides its know-how on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, while also being the main competitor of Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Through this merger, Eutelsat Group becomes an operator with the capacity to operate and offer services both in GEO, delivering a higher density and performance, and in LEO, reducing latency and increasing ubiquity. This combination will allow it to offer new connectivity services, with applications that include fixed and mobile connectivity, and will reach both the public at large and various government and security organizations.
In the words of its Chief Executive Officer, Eva Berneke, “Eutelsat Group is the only GEO-LEO operator in satellite communications that can offer a ubiquitous connectivity service”. The company hopes that by the end of this year they will be ready to offer a new operational framework that results in innovative services across the globe.
In addition to the business opportunities brought about by this new company, Eutelsat Group also implies an important step for Europe. The ability to deploy communication satellites and play a larger part in the future of a field as important as connectivity will be essential to compete with other technological giants and maintain the strategic autonomy of our countries.
