Eva Berneke describes her first year at the helm of the world’s third largest satellite company as a ‘whirlwind’. That’s an understatement. Since taking over the top job at Eutelsat in January 2022, the Danish CEO has become a direct competitor of Elon Musk, accused by the Ukrainian government of aiding Russian propaganda, and found herself in the middle of bitter Brexit politics – and that is before you even mention the Iranian sabotage attempt.
Despite all this, Berneke gives the impression of having everything under control. When she arrived at Eutelsat, the French company’s bread and butter business beamed TV channels to homes using geostationary satellites – which move at the same speed as the Earth and thus remain in a fixed position. The organization she inherited was stable and solid, she says, but also stagnant in an industry undergoing profound changes. Although it began using its geostationary fleet to provide satellite internet, TV revenues declined.
The arrival of two of the world’s richest men – Elon Musk with SpaceX’s Starlink network and Jeff Bezos with Project Kuiper – also began to change the way incumbents thought about their future. “If you have two of the biggest business innovators getting interested in your industry, you should shake things up a bit,” says Berneke.
Undeterred, Berneke responded by initiating her own uproar. In July, the company announced plans to merge with struggling UK satellite provider OneWeb. As part of the deal, Eutelsat absorbed OneWeb’s constellation of 648 low-orbit satellites. At just 1,200 km above the Earth, the OneWeb fleet delivers faster internet speeds than Eutelsat’s geostationary satellites, which are located 35,000 km above the Earth’s surface.
OneWeb is Eutelsat’s ticket to the booming low-orbit satellite market. Rural homes, ships, airlines, armies and autonomous vehicles are using satellite internet to stay connected in places previously considered dead zones.
“Even in France, a country with very high fiber and 5G coverage, it is estimated that about 4 percent of households do not have good connectivity,” says Berneke. She expects this figure to rise to 15 percent of households in countries with less fiber and 5G. “So it’s not such a small niche.”
The merger between OneWeb and Eutelsat is being touted as Europe’s entry into the space race. It is the only company currently competing with Musk’s Starlink in the low-orbit market. But to claim its title as a European space giant, Eutelsat must first navigate the messy post-Brexit politics. Both France’s Eutelsat and Britain’s OneWeb were part-owned by their respective governments, and the two countries will continue to hold stakes in the new company.
Berneke admits that Brexit has presented challenges. “But there is a willingness on both sides to cross the Channel to try and find a good way to work together,” she says. If Europe wants a homegrown satellite giant, Britain and France will have to settle their differences. “[OneWeb’s fleet] will be one of the only non-American constellations for a while,” she says.
Brexit politics is not the only hurdle. OneWeb’s Gen One satellites need to be upgraded and Eutelsat plans to have more advanced Gen Two satellites in orbit by 2027. Berneke says the upgrade will cost 3-4 billion euros ($3.3-4.4 billion), a bold move for a company with a reputation for playing it safe.
