LEO becomes the growth driver for Eutelsat OneWeb

Revenue from low-Earth-orbit services grew by 84% to €186.8 million, offsetting the decline in the traditional GEO business.

Aug 30, 2025

LEO satellites are no longer a futuristic curiosity — they’ve become the real battleground for global connectivity providers. Starlink keeps smashing records: over seven million users worldwide across more than 150 countries, with deployment speed that makes rivals feel like they’re waiting for a train that has already left the station. Yet this dominance has opened a window of opportunity for Eutelsat OneWeb. Ironically, some credit goes to Elon Musk himself. His unpredictable decisions to restrict Starlink’s availability in Ukraine reminded governments that relying on the mood of one man is not a strategy. As a result, OneWeb is increasingly viewed not only as an alternative but also as a safeguard against Musk’s next impulsive move.

The publicly available Eutelsat annual report for FY 2024/25 shows the scale of the shift. Revenue from OneWeb’s LEO services soared 84% year-on-year to €186.8 million, now making up almost 15% of group revenues. The traditional video segment continues to decline, and “satellite dishes” are now more associated with airplane and maritime internet than with TV channels.

The most striking growth came from government customers. France signed a ten-year framework contract worth up to €1 billion for priority access to OneWeb. The UK launched global LEO connectivity services for its diplomatic corps. Ukraine and even Taiwan have also leaned on OneWeb as an alternative to Starlink. The irony is hard to miss: Musk’s unpredictability has turned into free advertising for Eutelsat — “Want stability? Choose us.”

Corporate segments are also shifting. Orange signed agreements to use LEO for enterprise and backhaul, Station Satcom in India is opening the maritime segment, and aviation already counts over a hundred connected aircraft with a backlog of more than a thousand (including Air Canada and Delta). In practice, OneWeb is quietly embedding itself where SLA guarantees are critical.

Meanwhile, another player is stepping onto the stage — Amazon Kuiper. It has no end-users yet, since its constellation is only just being deployed. But Kuiper is moving strategically: memorandums of understanding and early agreements are already being signed with governments and large enterprises. In other words, Kuiper is selling not current services but the promise of future services — and doing it rather successfully. This is another signal to governments that the LEO ecosystem will not be limited to Starlink and OneWeb.

Challenges remain for Eutelsat. A net loss of more than €1 billion, driven by GEO asset impairments, and a debt leverage close to 4× EBITDA are a reminder that space does not forgive financial indiscipline. Management, however, is guiding for another 50% increase in LEO revenues in 2025/26 and plans to launch 440 additional satellites to sustain momentum.

But the market is not going to be a three-horse race. Already, a good dozen other LEO projects are in the pipeline — from Europe’s IRIS² initiative and China’s Guo Wang, to Telesat Lightspeed in Canada, Spain’s Sateliot, Finland’s ReOrbit, France’s E-Space, Rivada, Turkey’s Hello Space, and more. Nearly all of them prioritize the government (B2G) segment, while also planning solutions for business and consumers. In just a few years, low Earth orbit will not be a duopoly or triopoly but a crowded field of competing strategies.

So the picture is not triangular but polygonal. Starlink showcases its seven-million-strong user base, while its true revenues are partially hidden in the “black box” of Starshield defense contracts. OneWeb/Eutelsat plays the transparent game: openly reporting an 84% annual LEO revenue surge, a €3.5 billion backlog, and a clear focus on governments and enterprises. Amazon Kuiper is actively selling the future before it launches. And a growing list of other players are knocking on the door. This diversity is shaping the real LEO landscape: from black boxes to open books — and prepaid checks for services that don’t yet exist.

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LEO becomes the growth driver for Eutelsat OneWeb

Revenue from low-Earth-orbit services grew by 84% to €186.8 million, offsetting the decline in the traditional GEO business.

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