{"id":16570,"date":"2025-07-10T13:53:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T13:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1414371"},"modified":"2025-07-10T13:53:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T13:53:16","slug":"uk-and-france-unite-behind-e1-5b-plan-to-boost-europes-rival-to-starlink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=16570","title":{"rendered":"UK and France unite behind \u20ac1.5B plan to boost Europe\u2019s rival to Starlink"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The UK government reportedly plans to invest \u20ac163mn in French satellite firm <\/span>Eutelsat<\/span> as Europe pushes to back a local alternative to Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink.<\/span><\/p>\n

The investment, first reported by <\/span>Reuters<\/span><\/a>, follows the lead of the French state, which is set to inject \u20ac<\/span>717mn into <\/span>Eutelsat<\/span> as part of a <\/span>\u20ac1.35bn funding package to prop up the indebted satellite communications provider. The UK contribution would bring <\/span>Eutelsat\u2019s recapitalisation to around <\/span>\u20ac1.5bn.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron thanked his \u201cBritish friends\u201d for the support in a <\/span>post on X<\/span><\/a>, without disclosing the deal\u2019s value. <\/span><\/p>\n

Eutelsat has received significant attention this year, as European leaders scramble to reduce their reliance on Starlink, especially <\/span>in Ukraine<\/span><\/a>, which has become highly dependent on the service in its war with Russia. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The French firm operates the third-largest satellite communications fleet \u2014 <\/span>653 satellites orbiting the Earth, each circling about 1,200km above the surface. The company <\/span>previously told TNW<\/span><\/a> that, in Europe, it offers the same coverage and latency capabilities as Starlink.<\/span><\/p>\n

In June, French Finance Minister Eric Lombard described his country\u2019s investment as part of its broader ambitions to build a competitive, resilient, and sovereign space industry. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis transaction reflects our strong commitment towards a major player in satellite connectivity \u2014 a strategic sector at the heart of Europe\u2019s digital sovereignty,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The funding offers a much-needed lifeline for Eutelsat, which had a net debt of \u20ac2.6bn at the end of 2024, according to its own financial reporting. It could also help the company contribute to the deployment of <\/span>IRIS2, a European public-private <\/span>satellite internet constellation expected to switch on in 2030.<\/span><\/p>\n

IRIS2 is a European attempt to create a truly sovereign satellite communications system. The constellation will build upon Eutelsat\u2019s existing fleet and that of SES, a satellite firm from Luxembourg. <\/span><\/p>\n

Lombard said the IRIS2 project would be <\/span>a \u201ckey pillar\u201d of Europe\u2019s autonomy in space. However, the scheme will enter into an <\/span>increasingly crowded<\/span><\/a> satellite communications market. <\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK government reportedly plans to invest \u20ac163mn in French satellite firm Eutelsat as Europe pushes to back a local alternative to Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink. The investment, first reported by Reuters, follows…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}