Working with Starlink “is a dependence that may be determined within the White Home or [Trump’s private residence] Mar-a-Lago,” Eutelsat Chief Government Officer Eva Berneke informed POLITICO. “It is good to have a number of choices.”
However at present’s Starlink options aren’t able to tackle Musk — together with Eutelsat, by Berneke’s personal admission.
“If we have been to take over all the connectivity capability for Ukraine and all of the residents, we would not have the ability to do this. Let’s simply be very trustworthy,” Berneke mentioned. “However I do assume we will present capability for a number of the important use circumstances of presidency.”
Few corporations have invested in low-earth orbit satellites. Such programs supply sooner connections and decrease latency — essential for real-time operations like drone warfare — however they continue to be expensive and cumbersome to function. Starlink, which is owned by Musk’s SpaceX, leads the market, with Eutelsat as a robust challenger and others, like Amazon’s Undertaking Kuiper, nonetheless lagging behind.
“Any such answer that Starlink is providing is exclusive,” mentioned Christopher Baugh, an area trade professional at consulting agency Analysys Mason. Starlink has “damaged limitations technically” and “crammed the void, as a result of nothing else was accessible,” he mentioned.
With cutting-edge, compact kits and an enormous internet of versatile beams, Starlink’s 7,000 satellites dwarf Eutelsat’s 600-strong fleet and relatively clunkier terminals. Musk’s community can supply between 23 and 490 instances the capability of Eutelsat over Ukraine, relying on the use situations.
