Germany, Ukraine Start Ramping Up Use Of European Starlink Alternative

Last week Reuters reported that Berlin has been paying for Ukraine’s access to France’s Eutelsat for much of the last year. Initial numbers are low, but they’re hoping to ramp up quickly:

“[Eutelsat’s chief executive Eva] Berneke said there were fewer than a thousand terminals connecting users in Ukraine to Eutelsat’s network, which is a small fraction of the roughly 50,000 Starlink terminals Ukraine says it has, but she said she expected the figure would rise.
“Now we’re looking to get between 5,000 and 10,000 there relatively fast,” she said, adding it could be “within weeks”.

Eutelsat’s OneWeb division is Starlink’s primary rival in the low-Earth orbit satellite space. The company has around 650 LEO satellites in orbit at approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) altitude, while Starlink has a notable early advantage with over 7100 LEO satellites in orbit...

Elon Musk’s increasingly unhinged behavior continues to be a wonderful marketing opportunity for companies that want to provide alternatives ... Trump’s annoying tariffs have also been driving foreign governments (like Canada) away from Starlink, though it’s all happening slower than many would like.

Don’t feel bad for Elon Musk though. Potentially unsecured Starlink terminals were recently attached to the White House roof, creating major new potential cybersecurity risks. U.S. Republicans are also trying to hijack the $42.5 billion U.S. infrastructure bill broadband grant program and redirect as much of the money as possible to Musk.

More details at
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/10/germany-ukraine-start-ramping-up-use-of-european-starlink-alternative/