Eutelsat LEO revenue rockets 84% as governments cool on Starlink
- Reference: 1754395208
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/05/eutelsat_leo_revenue/
- Source link:
Increasingly shaky relations with the US have led allied governments to consider [1]alternatives to American vendors. Notably, Elon Musk's Starlink satellite broadband service has come under scrutiny.
Starlink has proven invaluable following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, allowing connectivity to be maintained even while communication networks have been disrupted. However, recent [2]mixed messaging from US President Donald Trump's administration has led governments and commercial organizations to consider alternatives, such as Eutelsat.
[3]
According to its [4]financial results for fiscal 2025 ended June 30 , Eutelsat posted total revenue of €1.244 billion, up 1.6 percent year-on-year. Within this, video revenue fell 6.5 percent to €608 million, but LEO revenue was up 84.1 percent to €186.8 million, and Government Services jumped 24.1 percent to €211 million.
[5]
[6]
The bounce in sales of Government Services "reflected the growth of LEO-enabled solutions, notably with services delivered in Ukraine, as well as increased demand from other non-US governments," the satellite operator said.
Eutelsat reported that "Fourth Quarter revenues stood at €65 million, up by 40.9 percent year-on-year and by 37.9 percent quarter-on-quarter."
[7]
It also signed a €1 billion framework agreement with France's Armed Forces Ministry for LEO satellite services, something Eutelsat said was "showcasing enhanced traction with sovereign customers amid an evolving geopolitical backdrop."
Then there's the €1.5 billion capital increase ( [8]initially €1.35 billion until the [9]UK got involved in July), which is expected to help Eutelsat grow its LEO network.
[10]Financial 'stretch' for UK to join Europe's Starlink rival, says minister
[11]Bezos beams up batch two as Project Kuiper plays catch-up with Starlink
[12]Eutelsat seeks €1.35B to boost LEO network and take the fight to Starlink
[13]Eutelsat in talks with Euro leaders as they mull Starlink replacement in Ukraine
Starlink is unlikely to be too concerned at the moment. Eutelsat's LEO coverage comes mainly from OneWeb, which requires fewer satellites due to their higher orbits compared to Starlink, but these are still vastly outnumbered. In June, CCS Insight research analyst Joe Gardiner told The Register that he doubted Eutelsat/OneWeb was in a position to mount a serious challenge to Starlink.
"With only 650 satellites, [OneWeb] is approximately a tenth of the size of the Starlink constellation," Gardiner said. "Therefore, to offer greater capacity and coverage, it needs to increase the number of satellites in space, a task made more difficult due to the fact that many of OneWeb's satellites are nearing the end of their lifespan and will need to be first replaced before growing the constellation's size."
Since we spoke to Gardiner, SpaceX has conducted more than ten Starlink launches to build out and replace satellites in its constellation.
[14]
Eutelsat noted that it had ordered an initial batch of 100 additional satellites in December 2024, "as well as the procurement of 340 further satellites for the current LEO constellation." ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/07/eutelsat_starlink_ukraine/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/30/microsoft_getting_nervous_about_europes/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aJIqiBQsUo37S8glt1snVgAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.eutelsat.com/en/news/press.html#/pressreleases/full-year-2024-25-results-3398222
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJIqiBQsUo37S8glt1snVgAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJIqiBQsUo37S8glt1snVgAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aJIqiBQsUo37S8glt1snVgAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/20/eutelsat_funding/
[9] https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-07-10/hcws807
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/05/uk_budget_to_join_iris_not_there/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/24/second_project_kuiper_launch/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/20/eutelsat_funding/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/07/eutelsat_starlink_ukraine/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aJIqiBQsUo37S8glt1snVgAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Eutelsat vs Starlink
Eutelsat is not really competing with Starlink: it has a different kind of constellation and a very different business model. I think there is little commercial demand for Starlink in Europe for individual customers.
Musk has never given anything away, he's just good at getting others to pay for things and SpaceX and Starlink have been made possible by government contracts, and cheap funding guaranteed by the Tesla shareprice (itself largely backstopped by government schemes). Currently, he's following the Silicon Valley playbook of trying to monopolise the market, at which point he'll be able to increase prices as much as he likes.
Re: Eutelsat vs Starlink
Gardiner is making weird comparisons.
Comparing the numbers of satellites is like comparing the number of wheels on a BelAZ 75710 and a normal artic.
It's interesting, but irrelevant.
The ground stations make a far bigger difference.
Re: Eutelsat vs Starlink
> how did Starlink manage to build such a big constellation and then sell a decent service at a decent price
US government money. So much US government money SpaceX built a fleet of rockets and launches satellites almost every day.
Not to mention the huge amounts of US government money funnelled into Tesla and his other companies.
It wouldn't surprise me if Musk is the largest single beneficiary of US tax dollars.
At least it didn't go on welfare for people who need it, eh?
Reminder
Thanks for a reminder. Time to buy more.
Gov price higher
I've read 2022 governments dropped almost 400M on starlink. Pricing was as high as 4500/mo/terminal. If I were the EU, I'd build my own. Who can forget musk having a meltdown and threatening to cutoff Ukraine service. I worked a bit in defense and frankly have never figured out how we got here. I've never never never ever seen a CEO of Lockheed/Boeing/Martin/Raytheon... threaten the government if they did not get their way. Maybe privately this goes on, but never in public. US should have given spaceX a choice. NO government contracts, or musk is no longer permitted to oversee any day to day. He must be a silent investor. I still recall the day when the company I worked for (TRW) I was told the president of the company is NOT briefed on certain deals because, A he doesn't need to know, B he doesn't have the clearance. Back then clearance's were not given to just anyone. You had to need to know. And not because you were rich or ran the company.
mmmm...
much as I dislike musk, eutelsat/oneweb is top down and for European business feudalism and starlink is more Cap'n Ooh Arrh Bligh bottom up for us serfs. For 40€ a month, I'll stick with the bigoted pirate.
Eutelsat vs Starlink
I really hope Eutelsat will be able to provide a service which quality and price rivals Starlink, because we Europeans need this both for civilian and military use.
And I really don't get how did Starlink manage to build such a big constellation and then sell a decent service at a decent price not only to governments and businesses but even to home users, while no one else was able to even try to match Starlink's results. Is it all because of Elon's incredible amount of money and willingness to spend them in high risk projects?