Latest news with #Berneke
CNA
05-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
Eutelsat replaces CEO with Orange executive in surprise move
PARIS : Franco-British satellite operator Eutelsat will replace its CEO with Orange executive Jean-Francois Fallacher, it said on Monday, in a surprise move by a company in the spotlight for its role in European defence communications. Fallacher, currently CEO of Orange France, will take over on June 1, at a time when Eutelsat has said it needs more financing. He will succeed Eva Berneke, who has led the company since 2022. The Frenchman takes over as Europe is looking for home-grown commercial and defence satellite communication options to reduce its reliance on Elon Musk's Starlink. Fallacher, 58, is a telecoms sector veteran, having led Orange's branches in Romania, Poland, Spain and France over the last 15 years. "It is a continuity appointment, not a rupture with the strategy, as the path is clearly traced and the new CEO is committed to build," a Eutelsat spokesperson said. Shares in the company, up 90 per cent this year, rose 8 per cent by 1148 GMT. Only 20.9 per cent of the shares listed in Paris and London are publicly traded, making it prone to sharp price swings. A COSTLY MERGER Berneke led Eutelsat through its merger with Britain's OneWeb in 2023 and a rapid revival of interest in the role of satellite connectivity in Europe. Eutelsat's OneWeb acquisition gave the group control over the only other constellation of low Earth orbit satellites in the world at the time besides Starlink. Suggestions the company could replace Starlink in providing internet access to war-torn Ukraine fuelled the biggest weekly gains ever in Eutelsat stock in early March. Berneke told Reuters last month the company has provided its high-speed satellite internet service to Ukraine for about a year via a German distributor. "Eutelsat is set for a full alignment with a world where Europe is a strong sovereign space player and strongly aligned with the telecom connectivity ecosystem," Berneke wrote in a post on LinkedIn regarding her departure. She added that the company was looking to "adjust our governance and shareholder structure", which had paved the way for the CEO change. She did not give further details. A person familiar with the situation said Eutelsat was facing significant investment demands that would require fresh capital, with a potential share sale a logical avenue. Eutelsat had said its OneWeb tie-up would lift the group's annual sales to $2 billion by 2027, with OneWeb's second generation of LEO satellites expected to be launched by the end of the decade. However, Eutelsat now says it needs more than three times the satellites than previously thought, requiring up to 2.2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) in financing. ($1 = 0.8822 euros)
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Eutelsat replaces CEO with Orange executive
French satellite operator Eutelsat has appointed Jean-Francois Fallacher as its new chief executive, it said on Monday, in a surprise move that sent shares at the company down more than 4%. Fallacher, the former CEO of Orange France, will take over on June 1, succeeding Eva Berneke who has led the company for the last two years. The Frenchman takes over as Europe seeks a credible alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink for both commercial and defence connectivity. "This appointment comes as a natural change that fully aligns Eutelsat to the telecom ecosystem," the company said. Shares in the company were down 3% at 0724 GMT. Berneke has led Eutelsat through its merger with Britain's OneWeb in 2023 and a rapid revival interest in the role of satellite connectivity in Europe. Berneke told Reuters last month the company has provided its high-speed satellite internet service to Ukraine for about a year via a German distributor. "Eutelsat is set for a full alignment with a world where Europe is a strong sovereign space player and strongly aligned with the telecom connectivity ecosystem," Berneke wrote in a post on LinkedIn regarding her departure. Berneke added that the company was looking to "adjust our governance and shareholder structure", which had paved the way for the CEO change. She did not give further details.
CNA
05-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
Eutelsat replaces CEO with Orange executive
French satellite operator Eutelsat has appointed Jean-Francois Fallacher as its new chief executive, it said on Monday, in a surprise move that sent shares at the company down more than 4 per cent. Fallacher, the former CEO of Orange France, will take over on June 1, succeeding Eva Berneke who has led the company for the last two years. The Frenchman takes over as Europe seeks a credible alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink for both commercial and defence connectivity. "This appointment comes as a natural change that fully aligns Eutelsat to the telecom ecosystem," the company said. Shares in the company were down 3 per cent at 0724 GMT. Berneke has led Eutelsat through its merger with Britain's OneWeb in 2023 and a rapid revival interest in the role of satellite connectivity in Europe. Berneke told Reuters last month the company has provided its high-speed satellite internet service to Ukraine for about a year via a German distributor. "Eutelsat is set for a full alignment with a world where Europe is a strong sovereign space player and strongly aligned with the telecom connectivity ecosystem," Berneke wrote in a post on LinkedIn regarding her departure. Berneke added that the company was looking to "adjust our governance and shareholder structure", which had paved the way for the CEO change. She did not give further details.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Eutelsat can't match Starlink's scale in Ukraine, CEO admits
Ukraine has no viable alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink network for secure satellite communications, Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke told Politico on April 7, despite ongoing efforts to build up alternative capacity. Berneke acknowledged that Eutelsat — a French satellite operator providing limited service to Ukraine through a German government-funded distributor — cannot yet match Starlink's scale. "If we were to take over the entire connectivity capacity for Ukraine and all the citizens, — we wouldn't be able to do that. Let's just be very honest," she said. While Eutelsat's OneWeb network has begun supporting Ukrainian government operations with fewer than 1,000 active terminals, the company aims to scale up to 5,000–10,000 units. This remains far behind the estimated 50,000 Starlink terminals active across Ukraine, serving military, medical, and civilian sectors. Berneke also raised concerns over the geopolitical risks of relying on a single private provider. "Working with Starlink is a dependence that can be decided in the White House or Mar-a-Lago," she said, referencing U.S. President Donald Trump's residence. Those concerns have grown amid reports that Washington may use Starlink access as leverage. In February, Reuters reported the U.S. had threatened to cut the service unless Ukraine signed a critical minerals deal. Tech billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk denied these claims, and on March 9, he claimed that cutting Ukraine off from Starlink would cause the country's entire front line to collapse. Uncertainty deepened following a Feb. 28 meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky, which led to a temporary halt in U.S. aid and intelligence sharing while the White House pushed Kyiv toward negotiations with Moscow. Eutelsat was in talks with the European Union on potentially expanding its services to reduce Ukraine's dependence on Musk's network, Bloomberg reported on March 6. The company's hybrid satellite approach, combining low Earth orbit and geostationary satellites, could support military operations, including drone attacks, if scaled. Read also: US increasingly polarized over Ukraine support as Trump's 'America First' deepens party divide We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Eutelsat admits it cannot yet replace Starlink for Ukraine
Starlink's key competitor, Eutelsat, has acknowledged that it is currently unable to challenge Starlink's dominance in wartime communication support for Ukraine. Source: Politico, as reported by European Pravda Details: Ukraine must continue to live with the risk that Elon Musk could disable the satellite connection used to support hospitals, military bases and troops, as there are no short-term alternatives that match Starlink's capabilities. The European Union is now looking for backup solutions, including through the Franco-British operator Eutelsat. Working with Starlink "is a dependence that can be decided in the White House or [Trump's private residence] Mar-a-Lago," said Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke. "It's good to have multiple options," she added. However, Berneke admitted that current alternatives to Starlink, including Eutelsat, are not yet ready to fully replace it. "If we were to take over the entire connectivity capacity for Ukraine and all the citizens, we wouldn't be able to do that. Let's just be very honest," Berneke said, adding that "we can provide capacity for some of the critical use cases of government". Few companies have invested in low-orbit satellites, which are vital for real-time operations like drone warfare due to their lower latency and faster connections. Yet these systems remain costly and difficult to scale. Starlink, owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, dominates the market, with Eutelsat being the strongest competitor, while Amazon's Project Kuiper still lags behind. With over 7,000 satellites and compact, high-performance user kits, Starlink's network dwarfs Eutelsat's 600 satellites and bulkier terminals. Depending on use-case scenarios, Starlink offers between 23 to 490 times more bandwidth over Ukraine than Eutelsat. Over 42,000 Starlink kits were reportedly sold in Ukraine last year. Berneke suggested that it was not necessary to reach that number but added that it would be reasonable to have at least a couple of thousand as backup in critical locations. Eutelsat is currently in talks with the EU to secure funding for shipping more kits to local users and possibly for launching new satellites to expand its bandwidth capacity in the coming years. "Discussions are indeed ongoing at [the] EU level, with our member states and with the industry," said European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier. Background: Earlier reports stated that Germany has been funding Ukraine's access to Eutelsat's satellite internet network. In March, the Polish government said it had spent nearly US$83 million on Starlink for Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski previously warned Elon Musk against using access to Starlink as leverage over Ukraine, reminding him that Poland is paying for the service. Musk later stated that he would never disconnect Starlink from the Ukrainian military, even if he does not agree with the country's policies. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
