By Supantha Mukherjee
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Eutelsat, the world’s third-biggest satellite tv for pc operator by income, launched 20 satellites for its communications community on Sunday, utilizing Elon Musk’s SpaceX in its first transfer for the reason that merger of two European firms final yr.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off with Eutelsat satellites from California’s Vandenberg Area Drive Base at 0513 GMT.
“This is the first OneWeb launch of the satellites since the merger,” CEO Eva Berneke instructed Reuters in an interview. “We will be launching more satellites over the coming years.”
The Paris-based group shaped by the merger in September final yr of France’s Eutelsat and Britain’s OneWeb has a constellation of over 600 low earth orbit satellites that cater to broadcasters, telecom firms and radio stations.
“We really want to integrate into the telco ecosystem,” Berneke stated. “Satellites are an interesting niche in the overall connectivity ecosystems where telcos are the big boys in the class and satellite will always be a smaller part.”
Eutelsat counts telecom operators resembling France’s Orange and Australia’s Telstra (OTC:) as purchasers and is in talks with others resembling AT&T (NYSE:) within the U.S.
The corporate, which has a backlog of orders of $4 billion, is ready for international locations resembling India and Saudi Arabia to open up.
India – a market set to develop 36% a yr to $1.9 billion by 2030 – is within the course of to permitting satellite tv for pc providers> It has skilled friction between home gamers and firms resembling Starlink.
“We have some of our backlog sitting in the Indian market… It sits there until India gets open, the day it gets open, we’ll start building,” Berneke stated.
The corporate can be in talks with aviation firms to supply in-flight connectivity, together with web looking, and expects income to start out rising from subsequent yr, she stated.
