The constellation war in Europe is in full swing. It is in this context that the French satellite operator Eutelsat announced, on Tuesday, November 18, the signing of a definitive merger agreement with the British OneWeb, which is deploying a constellation of microsatellites to provide high-speed Internet in uncovered areas. .
The operation should lead to the launch of various devices into orbit and give birth to a European giant of the space Internet capable of standing up to the signed constellation of devices Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, or even the future Kuiper project that Jeff will lead Bezos (Amazon).
complementary technologies
The service should be operational from “end of next year”, continues David Berlotti.
To win your bet, Eutelsat is based on complementarity. “We have many customers interested in something that is specific to the Eutelsat-OneWeb partnership that Starlink does not have: the combination of geostationary orbit and low orbit satellites. It will be possible to switch from one to the other thanks to the Eutelsat-OneWeb technology”, stresses David Berlotti.
Eutelsat was, until now, specialized in geostationary satellites positioned at 36,000 kilometers for satellite television broadcasting in particular. Thus, this new group would have a larger strike force to compete with the American space internet champions. Already last year, Eutelsat increased its stake in OneWeb by around 24%.
Source: BFM TV
