France will invest €717 million in Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat, a global competitor to US-based Elon Musk-owned Starlink, Economy Minister Éric Lombard announced this week.
As the new Trump administration adopts an increasingly dismissive and antagonistic stance toward its long-standing European allies, efforts to enhance the bloc’s strategic autonomy are intensifying by the day, especially in Paris.
The French state stake “reflects a clear intent: to position satellite connectivity as a strategic tool for advancing digital and industrial sovereignty in France and across Europe”, Lombard wrote on X on 19 June.
Eutelsat’s current ownership is split between the French state – which holds 13.6% – and the United Kingdom, which holds 10.9%. After the announced increase, France’s sovereign stake should rise to 30%, while the UK’s should decrease to about 8%.
The Commission recently granted unconditional approval for Luxembourg-based SES to acquire rival Intelsat for €2.8 billion, aiming to give another European company a chance to develop a low-Earth orbit (LEO) telecommunications satellite constellation.
The global race is intense for European companies, with US players like Viasat, AST SpaceMobile, and Amazon’s Kuiper subsidiary all planning to develop their own LEO constellations. Meanwhile, Chinese state-subsidised companies such as China SatNet and Spacesail also have ambitious development programs underway.
(jp)
