Elon Musk’s Starlink Rival Eutelsat Shares Slides After SoftBank Reportedly Cuts Its Stake

• Eutelsat’s website states that the company is the world’s first fully integrated multi-orbit satellite operator.
• In addition to its satellites in LEO, Eutelsat has a fleet of 34 satellites in geostationary orbit.
• The company has also received investments from the French and U.K. governments worth over €700 million ($817 million) and €163 million, respectively, as Eutelsat looks to better compete with Starlink.

Elon Musk-led Starlink’s European rival, Eutelsat, saw its shares decline nearly 7% on Wednesday after SoftBank Group Corp. (SFTBY) reportedly trimmed its stake in the company.

According to CNBC, citing a Reuters report, SoftBank sold 36 million rights corresponding to 26 million equity shares in Eutelsat, representing nearly half of its stake in the France-based satellite operator.

Eutelsat, which merged with satellite internet service provider OneWeb in 2023, is seen as a key rival to SpaceX’s Starlink in Europe. However, the gulf between the satellite networks of the two companies is wide. While Eutelsat has more than 600 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Starlink has more than 7,800 satellites in LEO, according to the two companies’ respective websites.

SpaceX is currently not publicly listed. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the company trended in the ‘bearish’ territory at the time of writing.

Eutelsat’s Operations

Eutelsat’s website states that the company is the world’s first fully integrated multi-orbit satellite operator. In addition to its satellites in LEO, Eutelsat also has a fleet of 34 satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO).

It currently delivers 6,500 television channels to over a billion viewers around the world.

The company has also received investments from the French and U.K. governments worth over €700 million ($817 million) and €163 million, respectively, as Eutelsat looks to better compete with Starlink.

Starlink’s Current Status

On its website, Starlink stated that its current cumulative capacity is inching close to 450 terabytes per second.

The company also added that it plans to launch third-generation Starlink satellites in the first half of 2026. These satellites are designed to provide downlink capacity of over a terabit per second and uplink capacity of over 200 gigabits per second to customers on the ground. This is more than 10 times the downlink and 24 times the uplink capacity of the second-generation satellites, the company said.

€1 = $1.17

Also See: Michael Burry Denies Reports That Said He Was Short Tesla

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