Starlink rival Eutelsat orders 340 OneWeb satellites from Airbus

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Eutelsat ETL.PA, the satellite operator backed by the French and the British governments, has placed an order with Airbus AIR.PA for 340 satellites to refresh and extend its OneWeb low-Earth-orbit network, the two companies said on Monday.

The additional satellites are intended to keep the service running by gradually swapping out the earliest vehicles as they reach the end of their working lives, according to Eutelsat.

OneWeb's first satellites were launched about six years ago, before the London-based operator merged with Eutelsat in 2023.

The latest purchase, combined with 100 satellites ordered in December 2024 , lifts the running total to 440 satellites contracted for OneWeb. Deliveries are expected to start from the end of 2026.

Financial details of the contract were not disclosed, but Eutelsat had previously said extending the constellation until the availability of the European Union's IRIS² constellation would require a further 340 satellites on top of an initial committed batch of 100. That would put the total cost of the extension programme at around 2 billion euros to 2.2 billion euros ($2.3 billion and $2.6 billion) between 2024 and 2029, Eutelsat said last year.

Eutelsat drew increased attention from European governments last year because it owns the only other low Earth orbit constellation besides Elon Musk's Starlink. These satellites are used to beam internet from space, providing broadband connectivity to businesses, governments and consumers in underserved areas.

France led a 1.5-billion-euro capital increase in 2025, joined by the UK and other anchor investors, to strengthen the satellite operator's finances as it seeks to compete with Starlink.

($1 = 0.8551 euros)