France has made a large -scale investment in the sphere of satellite communications, allocated € 717 million in support of the Paris company Eutelsat, one of the main European competitors of the American Starlink system, owned by Ilon Mask. This was reported by French Economy Minister Eric Lombar, emphasizing the strategic importance of this step for the country and the entire European Union.
According to him, such support demonstrates the determination of France to make a satellite connection with a key tool of digital and industrial independence of the EU. "This is a clear intention to position the satellite communication as a strategic resource to protect European sovereignty," the minister stressed.
As a result of this investment, the share of the French state in Eutelsat will increase from 13.6% to 30%, while British will decrease from 10.9% to about 8%. Thus, France increases the impact on one of the leading players in the European Space Sector, which will allow the country to have more levers in the formation of digital policy.
Eutelsat investment is part of Europe's broader effort to develop satellite infrastructure against global competition. Recently, the European Commission has approved an agreement on the acquisition of the Luxembourg company SES its competitor Intelsat for € 2.8 billion. The agreement is intended to accelerate the creation of a European group of telecommunications satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).
Meanwhile, the US is actively developing similar projects for Viasat, AST Spacemobile and Amazon - Kuiper, while China is betting on state -owned companies of China Satnet and SpaceSesail.
