EU in talks with four satellite operators to replace Starlink for Ukraine - FT
Europe is looking for a satellite service that could replace Starlink for Ukraine. Negotiations are currently underway with four European satellite operators.
This is reported by the Financial Times, Censor.NET informs.
It is noted that the EU is negotiating with four major satellite operators: Luxembourg's SES, Spain's Hisdesat, Viasat (owner of British Inmarsat) and France's Eutelsat/OneWeb.
In particular, Miguel Angel Garcia Primo, CEO of Hisdesat, confirmed that his company is in talks with European officials as part of this initiative.
He said that the recent meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy sparked "immediate discussions about whether the EU can offer alternatives" to Starlink for Ukraine.
At the same time, the publication writes that it will be difficult to replace Starlink terminals quickly. According to Garcia Primo, it will be difficult to deploy the same number of terminals as Starlink, as it takes time.
In turn, Luc Palermo Serra, research director at Analysys Mason, also said that although there are alternatives, none of them can offer the same level of service as Starlink. He noted that even combining all European capacities would not be able to match Starlink's capabilities.
SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said that the company already provides services to Ukraine, but is also involved in negotiations to expand its capabilities. Viasat also expressed its readiness to meet the needs of Ukraine, noting that the company has significant capacity.
As reported earlier, U.S. officials are discussing the possibility of disconnecting Ukraine from the Starlink satellite Internet system owned by Elon Musk if Kyiv refuses the proposed minerals deal.
In turn, Poland said that it had purchased the Starlink satellite Internet systems for Ukraine and could not imagine that anyone could break the agreement to which Poland was a party.
Later, Elon Musk, an American billionaire and head of the U.S. Government's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) , called Reuters' information about U.S. threats to cut off Starlink, which he owns, a lie.
