EU Negotiates Starlink Replacement for Ukraine with Four Satellite Operators

The European Union is in discussions with four European satellite internet providers to explore alternatives to Starlink for Ukraine’s defense forces, the Financial Times reports.

Negotiations are underway with Luxembourg-based SES, Spain’s Hisdesat, British company Viasat, and the French-British operator Eutelsat/OneWeb.

At the same time, the FT also notes that replacing Starlink would be challenging, requiring substantial investment to launch enough satellites to provide 24/7 high-speed connectivity.

Miguel Ángel García Primo, CEO of Hisdesat, confirmed that talks are ongoing, but whether Hisdesat can meet the challenge remains unclear.

Meanwhile, Luc Palermo Serra, research director at Analysys Mason, stated that while there are alternatives to Starlink, neither individual systems nor their combination can match the capabilities of the U.S.-based network.

Despite this, SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh and Viasat representatives expressed optimism about meeting Ukraine’s needs.

According to them, while these systems are less capable, they can still provide internet access and support drone operations.

Reducing Dependence on Starlink

Militarnyi reported recently that Europe is working to help Ukraine transition to a Starlink alternative.

European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier noted that Ukraine has shown interest in switching to alternative systems, particularly GovSatCom – a pooled network of the EU’s existing national government satellite capacity.

The IRIS² satellite constellation has also been considered, but its deployment is not expected until the 2030s.

While IRIS² remains a long-term alternative, it is not viable for an immediate transition if the U.S. system were to be abruptly shut down.

GovSatCom’s initial operational readiness is expected this year but will serve only as an interim solution until IRIS² is fully implemented.