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Eutelsat Communications S.A.
Eutelsat operates satellites and sells the space-based capacity and connectivity that broadcasters, telecom operators, and governments rent to transmit TV, internet, and data.
Eutelsat is a satellite operator. It owns and runs a fleet of satellites parked in orbit, and it sells the capacity on those satellites to the companies and institutions that need to move signals across big distances. If you've ever watched a TV channel beamed across a continent, used a satellite internet dish in a remote area, or relied on a military or maritime communications link, there's a decent chance a Eutelsat satellite carried the signal somewhere along the way.
Its biggest traditional business is video. TV broadcasters rent space on Eutelsat's satellites to push their channels out to cable networks, satellite dishes, and TV platforms. That business is large and reliable but shrinking as viewers move to internet streaming. The second leg is data and connectivity, things like broadband in places cables don't reach, links for ships and planes, and government and military communications. The company also sells ground equipment and services alongside the raw capacity. Customers pay for bandwidth and service contracts, often over years, which gives Eutelsat a steady, subscription-like revenue stream. The company's story changed dramatically in 2023 when it merged with British satellite operator OneWeb, which runs a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites that sit much closer to the ground and offer faster, lower-lag connections than traditional high-flying satellites. The idea was to combine OneWeb's fast, low-orbit network with Eutelsat's larger, higher geostationary satellites into one operator that can serve both broad coverage and low-latency needs. That merger was a big bet, and it has been expensive to build out. Eutelsat is headquartered in Paris and is a major player alongside competitors like SES and Viasat, and its LEO business faces fierce pressure from SpaceX's Starlink, which has raced ahead in satellite broadband.
The honest picture is a company caught between a stable but declining video business and a costly, fast-moving push into satellite internet where bigger, better-funded rivals are moving quickly. Building and launching satellites eats cash, and the OneWeb build-out has weighed on the balance sheet, pushing debt up and forcing management to focus on cost cuts and cash. Satellite broadband, remote connectivity, and government contracts are the growth story investors are watching, and whether Eutelsat can turn OneWeb's network into a profitable service before rivals pull too far ahead is the question that decides the company's future.
Saved answer Β· last researched 10 Nov 2026
BIG PICTURE
Eutelsat holds 8.6% of the multi-orbit satellite communications market, behind SES's 22%
- 22% SES
- 12.1% Viasat
- 8.6% Eutelsat
- 4.6% Hughes Network Systems
- 1.7% Iridium Communications
- 51% Others
Satellite communications used to mean one big dish in a fixed spot in the sky. Now operators mix satellites in low orbit, which are closer and faster, with the older high-orbit ones. Eutelsat is the only European company running a working low-orbit network, OneWeb, alongside its high-orbit fleet, yet its slice of this market is smaller than SES's. Its pitch to telecoms, airlines and governments is that one contract covers both. Source: Global Market Insights, data from 2025
Timeline
Seventeen Countries Build a Satellite Network
In the late 1970s, European countries wanted their own way to move phone calls and data across the continent by satellite, instead of depending on others. So seventeen of them banded together and created Eutelsat as an intergovernmental organisation. It was the birth of Europe's satellite communications industry, aimed at the growing demand for telecommunications across Western Europe.
Europe's First Satellite TV Signal
Six years later, Eutelsat launched its first satellite, EUTELSAT I-F1. It carried the first commercial satellite TV transmission on a European satellite β the spark that started the satellite television business.
HOTBIRD Brings TV to Millions of Homes
The launch of HOTBIRD 1 built a powerful group of satellites parked at the same spot in the sky, 13 degrees East. From there, hundreds of TV channels could reach millions of homes through cable and small rooftop dishes.
From Government Club to Private Company
As telecom markets across Europe opened up to competition, Eutelsat's intergovernmental setup started to feel like a straitjacket. In the middle of 2001 it became a private company, giving it the freedom to chase commercial opportunities on its own terms.
Eutelsat Goes Public
A few years later, Eutelsat listed its shares on Euronext Paris. Around the same time, it began reaching beyond television into internet and government services, widening what the business could do.
KA-SAT, a Satellite Built for Data
In 2010 Eutelsat launched KA-SAT, Europe's first High Throughput Satellite. Think of it as a satellite tuned to carry far more data than the usual kind β at the time, the highest-capacity commercial satellite ever built.
Eutelsat Buys Into OneWeb
In 2021 Eutelsat took an equity stake in OneWeb, a company building a constellation of satellites in low orbit, much closer to Earth than Eutelsat's traditional fleet. It deepened the partnership between the two β and that same year, OneWeb began its first services in the far north.
The Merger With OneWeb
In late 2023 the two companies merged, creating Eutelsat Group. It became the world's first fully integrated operator combining GEO satellites β the big, distant kind Eutelsat had always used β with OneWeb's roughly 650 low-orbit satellites. The bet was that owning both kinds of network would let it serve customers in ways neither could alone.
A New CEO for a Telecom Future
In 2025 Jean-François Fallacher took over as CEO from Eva Berneke. The change was framed as aligning Eutelsat with the wider telecom world after the OneWeb merger, as the company prepared for a role in the EU's IRIS2 constellation.
Eutelsat Wins the IRIS2 Lead Role
Then came the payoff: Eutelsat was chosen to lead the low-orbit part of IRIS2, the EU's planned network of 330 satellites, with first launches in 2029 and services from 2030. Its order backlog jumped to about 12 billion euros from 3.4 billion, most of it for designing and building IRIS2. With video broadcasting in decline, the company is counting on over 10 billion euros in commercial service revenues between 2032 and 2040 to build its next chapter.