Eva Berneke has described her first year at the helm of the world’s third largest satellite company as a “whirlwind”. that’s an understatement. Since he took the top job at Eutelsat in January 2022, the Danish CEO has become a direct competitor to Elon Musk, who was accused by the Ukrainian government of supporting Russian propaganda, and found himself in the thick of bitter Brexit politics. And before that you also mention the Iranian sabotage attempt.
Despite it all, Bernke gives the impression that she has everything under control. When she arrived at Eutelsat, the French company’s bread-and-butter business was broadcasting TV channels to homes using geostationary satellites — which move at the same speed as Earth and therefore stay in a fixed position. The organization she inherited was stable and solid, she says—but also stable in an industry that is undergoing radical change. Although it was beginning to use its geostationary fleet to offer satellite Internet, its TV revenue was declining.
The entry of two of the world’s richest men—Elon Musk with SpaceX’s Starlink network and Jeff Bezos with Project Kuiper—had also begun to change the way they thought about their future. “When you have two of the biggest business innovators interested in your industry, you should expect a bit of a shakeup,” says Bernke.
Undeterred, Bernke responded by launching a shake-up of his own. In July, the company announced plans to merge with struggling British satellite provider OneWeb. As part of the deal, Eutelsat absorbed OneWeb’s constellation of 648 low-orbit satellites. Just 1,200 km above Earth, OneWeb’s fleet provides faster internet speeds than Eutelsat’s geostationary satellites, which are located 35,000 km above the planet’s surface.
OneWeb is Eutelsat’s ticket to the booming low-orbit satellite market. Rural homes, ships, airlines, the military and autonomous vehicles are all turning to satellite internet to stay connected in places previously considered dead zones.
“Even in France, a country with a lot of fiber and 5G coverage, it is estimated that about 4 percent of households do not have good connectivity,” says Bernke. He expects that figure to increase to 15 percent in countries with less fiber and 5G. “So it’s not such a small niche.”
The OneWeb–Eutelsat merger has been touted as Europe’s entry into the space race. It is currently the only company competing with Musk’s Starlink in the low-orbit market. But to claim its title as a European space giant, Eutelsat must first navigate post-Brexit politics. France’s Eutelsat and Britain’s OneWeb were both partially owned by their respective governments, and both countries would retain their stakes in the new business.
Bernke acknowledged that Brexit has brought challenges. “But there has been a willingness on both sides to reach across the channel to try and find a good way to collaborate,” she says. If Europe wants a homegrown giant satellite, Britain and France will have to settle their differences. ,[OneWeb’s fleet] going to be one of the only non-US-based constellations for a while,” she says.
The politics of Brexit is not the only obstacle. OneWeb’s Gen One satellites need to be upgraded, and Eutelsat plans to have more advanced Gen Two satellites in orbit by 2027. Reputation for playing it safe.
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