Germany to finance Ukraine's access to satellite internet – Reuters

Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke told Reuters about this, as reported by Ukrinform.

Berneke noted that the company had been providing high-speed satellite internet services to Ukraine for about a year through a German distributor. She added that the service was financed by the German government, but declined to disclose the cost.

There are fewer than 1,000 terminals operating in Ukraine that connect users to Eutelsat's network, a fraction of the roughly 50,000 Starlink terminals the company says it has, but it expects that number to increase, Berneke said.

“We now hope to grow the number of users to 5,000 to 10,000 relatively quickly,” she said, adding that this could happen “within a few weeks.”

Read also: Ukraine received another 5,000 Starlink terminals from Pand

Asked whether Germany would also cover these additional costs, Eutelsat spokeswoman Joanna Darlington said the issue was under discussion.

“We don't yet know how exactly the EU or each state will fund further efforts,” Darlington said.

The German Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the situation.

Eutelsat's OneWeb division is Starlink's main competitor in providing high-speed satellite internet via low-Earth orbit satellites.

These satellites fly at lower altitudes than traditional satellites, allowing them to transmit data very efficiently, providing high-speed internet to remote areas, ships, and the military.

Earlier, Reuters reported that American negotiators raised the issue of possibly restricting Ukraine's access to the Starlink satellite internet system as part of the mining agreement.

Pand confirmed that it has purchased Starlink terminals for Ukraine, pays for satellite internet and plans to continue doing so, so it sees no reason to break the business contract in which Pand is one of the parties.

At the same time, Musk denied any speculation about the possibility of turning off Starlink in Ukraine. He also stated that he would never turn off Starlink terminals for Ukraine.

In addition, the French satellite operator Eutelsat confirmed that it is in talks with EU governments to provide Ukraine with additional satellite communications.

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