According to insiders, the French satellite operator Eutelsat is planning a complete takeover of the British broadband competitor Oneweb. A purchase may be announced as early as Monday, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Sunday. Oneweb was valued at $3.4 billion in its most recent round of funding. Eutelsat already holds 23 percent of the British company, making it the second largest shareholder. Eutelsat declined to comment.
A takeover of Oneweb could strengthen Eutelsat in the international race to roll out commercial broadband satellite networks. Important competitors are the entrepreneur Elon Musk with his company Space-X and its satellite network Starlink and the Amazon subsidiary Kuiper. At the same time, Russia’s space industry, which played an important role in launching satellites into space, has been sidelined in the face of sanctions imposed in the wake of the Ukraine war.
Behind Eutelsat are France as the main owner and China as the fourth largest shareholder. In addition to Eutelsat, the British state and the Indian entrepreneur Sunil Bharti Mittal are involved in Oneweb. In addition to commercial aspects, security policy interests always play a role in international cooperation./SZ