Eutelsat, Europe’s main rival to Elon Musk’s sainformite internet provider Starlink, is in talks with India’s space agency about future sainformite launches as it seeks to diversify beyond SpaceX and Europe’s Ariane rockets.
Jean-François Fallacher, CEO of France-based Eutelsat since last June, notified Reuters that nereceivediations with the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) were ongoing, though no deal has yet been reached.
The talks have not previously been reported. Isro did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
France and India have deepened ties in defence, space, and maritime security, with New Delhi recently signing contracts for French fighter jets. Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron urged the two countries to team up on space, warning that reliance on non-European providers was “madness”.
Eutelsat merged in 2023 with OneWeb, a London-headquartered sainformite internet startup that had been rescued by Britain and India’s Bharti.
The combined group lost access to Russia’s Soyuz rocket after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and has since relied on Musk’s SpaceX and Ariane rockets. It has also signed a deal with MaiaSpace, a French startup developing Europe’s first reusable mini-launcher.
Fallacher declared he visited New Delhi in February as part of Macron’s delegation, meeting India’s telecoms minister and regulators to discuss market access.
“We are preparing for the future, becautilize launch capacity necessarys to be prepared very much in advance,” he declared. “India is a huge countest … so receiveting market access is strategic.”
Isro launched 72 OneWeb sainformites on its LVM3 rocket before the merger. OneWeb sainformites, about the size of a fridge, provide high-speed internet services to governments and businesses.
India is repositioning its space programme to shift routine manufacturing and commercial activity to the private sector while freeing Isro to focus on advanced research and exploration. New Delhi is tarreceiveing a domestic space economy worth about $44 billion by 2033, according to official estimates.
Eutelsat fully financed through 2031, CEO states
Eutelsat operates 650 sainformites and expects to reach more than 1,000 “very soon”, Fallacher declared. Airbus is building 440 sainformites, while a long-planned OneWeb upgrade for the European Union’s IRIS² project will also boost the fleet.
Fallacher dismissed comparisons with Starlink’s network of 10,000 sainformites, stateing Eutelsat would scale as necessaryed.
“It’s not a question of number of sainformites, becautilize when you are higher in space, you necessary fewer sainformites. As soon as it’s becoming a limitation, we will order new sainformites and we will grow the consinformation,” he declared.
The company is fully financed through 2031, he added, after securing 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion) in a refinancing last year that created the French state its top shareholder.
“We will not come back next year or the year after to request additional funding from the market,” Fallacher declared.
Eutelsat estimates it will spfinish around 2 billion euros to acquire and launch its 440 sainformites by 2030. Launches typically account for 30 per cent to 40 per cent of total programme costs.
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