Europe’s Starlink rival Eutelsat sees growth returning in 2027

Europe’s best hope of a homegrown Starlink is starting to point up again. After a flat spell, Eutelsat expects its revenue to grow in 2027 as its low-orbit satellite business gathers pace, and the full-year numbers help explain the confidence.

The operator reported revenue of about €1.24bn for 2025/26, a 3% like-for-like rise, and management is guiding to slight growth next year against a stable 2026.

It is a modest outlook on paper, yet for a company that has spent recent years absorbing losses and doubts, even a promise of growth counts as a turning point.

The engine of that optimism is OneWeb. The low-Earth-orbit constellation now accounts for roughly a quarter of group revenue and is growing at more than 30%, which is enough to offset decline elsewhere and to give the group a clear direction of travel.

Its selling point is genuinely rare, too, because OneWeb is the only operational global low-orbit connectivity network outside Elon Musk’s Starlink, and that gives Eutelsat a real claim to being the alternative rather than merely aspiring to it.

The rest of the business, though, is a drag. Eutelsat’s legacy geostationary video operations keep shrinking, a structural decline that eats into the gains OneWeb is generating, and the profit picture reflects that tension.

Adjusted core earnings slipped about 3% on higher costs, though the net loss more than halved because the heavy write-downs of the prior year did not recur.

What has really changed is the politics. Europe is increasingly determined to reduce its reliance on American satellite providers, so Eutelsat finds itself positioned as the obvious beneficiary of that push for sovereignty.

That backdrop has drawn state support, with France becoming a cornerstone backer as part of a broader European effort to keep a credible connectivity champion in friendly hands.

Governments have put money behind the ambition, and the clearest sign is that the UK and France united behind a €1.5bn plan to strengthen Europe’s rival to Starlink.

The strategic logic sharpened over the past year: as Musk’s political profile rose, European capitals grew wary of depending on him, and his role has actively boosted the case for local alternatives.

Eutelsat is a known quantity in this race. Formed by the merger of the old Eutelsat with OneWeb, it has become Europe’s standard-bearer for satellite connectivity, especially in places like Ukraine.

Even so, the scale gap is real, and analysts have cautioned that Europe’s satellite efforts still cannot match Starlink, which has launched thousands of satellites and serves millions of users.

Closing that gap takes capital and hardware, which is why Eutelsat has been ordering new spacecraft while leaning on government and defence customers.

That kind of demand tends to be steadier than the consumer market Starlink dominates, since militaries and public agencies want connectivity that does not depend on a single American billionaire, and that appetite gives Eutelsat a customer base less fickle than consumers and less exposed to price wars.

The gap in fleet size is still daunting, though. Starlink operates thousands of satellites and adds more constantly, while OneWeb’s constellation is a fraction of that, which limits the capacity Eutelsat can sell.

Narrowing it will take fresh launches and money, so the company is again turning to new spacecraft and state support, and the EU’s own sovereign-connectivity plans could funnel further demand its way.

The financial picture remains delicate for now, because profitability is roughly flat and the legacy video decline is a persistent drag, which means the growth story rests heavily on OneWeb continuing to expand at pace rather than on any quick rebound elsewhere.

Even so, a return to growth is the point: after a rocky stretch, guidance for higher 2027 revenue lets Eutelsat argue that Europe’s bet on a sovereign alternative is beginning to pay off.