Elon Musk Warns of Ukraine’s Starlink Dependence as Eutelsat Pushes 40K Terminal Deployment

Key Takeaways

• Elon Musk has claimed Starlink is the backbone of the Ukrainian army.
• Eutelsat’s OneWeb could replace Starlink in Ukraine “within a couple of months,” CEO Eva Berneke said.
• Eutelsat is in discussions with European leaders to provide greater capacity to Ukraine.

Amid heightened geopolitical tension over military and technological aid to Ukraine, Elon Musk said Ukraine’s “entire front line would collapse” if he turned off Starlink in the country.

Against that backdrop, the French aerospace firm Eutelsat is in advanced talks to replace Starlink as Ukraine’s primary satellite internet provider.

Elon Musk’s Heated Exchange With Polish FM

In an X post on Sunday, March 9, Musk suggested that turning off Starlink in Ukraine would result in a collapse.

The post prompted a response from Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski.

“Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year,” he stated.

“The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers,” Sikorski added.

On Thursday, March 6, the CEO of Eutelsat, a Starlink competitor, revealed that the company is in talks to replace Musk’s internet service in Ukraine.

Starlink Competitor Eutelsat CEO Confirms Ukraine OneWeb Talks

Discussing the role of Eutelsat’s satellite communications service, CEO Eva Berneke said OneWeb is already providing “a lot of capacity to Ukraine.”

However, as European leaders move to reduce their dependency on American military support, she said discussions about increasing coverage “have intensified over the last couple of weeks.”

“Until now we have been together with Starlink there,” Berneke said, adding that the prospect of OneWeb completely replacing Starlink has taken on new urgency.

“That’s something we’re looking very actively at,” Berneke observed.

There are currently around 40,000 Starlink terminals in Ukraine compared to “a couple of thousand” OneWeb terminals, Berneke noted.

However, she said Eutelsat was looking at increasing that number by rerouting existing stock and working with manufacturing partners to increase the overall supply.

To completely replace Starlink would take “a couple of months,” Berneke claimed, adding that “we could at least double or triple” the number of terminals “within weeks.”

What Is Eutelsat? French Rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink Sees Stock Surge

Following Trump’s decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine, Eutelsat’s share price made significant gains before leveling out later in the week.

The French aerospace stock has climbed over 400% in the past week, reaching its highest level since 2022.

Eutelsat Group initially floated on the London Stock Exchange in October 2023, shortly after it was created by the merger of France’s Eutelsat and the U.K.-based OneWeb.

A Starlink Rival

Starlink provided free coverage across Ukraine during the early days of the war. However, the Pentagon and European allies eventually paid for both hardware and service fees.

With the latest U.S. funding freeze, the future of that program is in doubt.

As Europe prepares to replace at least some of the military aid previously supplied by Washington, policymakers may favor European contractors over Starlink, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

With just 648 satellites compared to Starlink’s more than 7,000, Eutelsat’s OneWeb doesn’t have nearly the same global coverage.

However, a company spokesperson told Reuters it was committed to supplying internet access to Ukraine.

“We have deployed and continue to operate hundreds of terminals across Ukraine and the Black Sea,” they said, adding that the company had played a key role in the region since the start of the war.

Europe Explores Alternatives to Starlink

Amid heightened transatlantic geopolitical tension, Tesla sales in Europe have tanked.

Meanwhile, even before Trump cut Ukraine’s funding, EU leaders were already exploring alternatives to Starlink.

Besides OneWeb, other options include the EU Space Program’s GovSatCom and alternative commercial providers like Spain’s Hispasat.