Eutelsat revenue on track as Starlink rival gains government customers

By Gianluca Lo Nostro

(Reuters) -French satellite operator Eutelsat met quarterly revenue estimates on Thursday, as the European rival to SpaceX's Starlink attracted new government customers for its OneWeb satellites.

The group's total revenues in the third quarter of the 2024-25 fiscal year that ended in March reached 300 million euros ($335.46 million).

The average analyst estimate was 302 million euros in a company-compiled poll with the lowest pitched at 294 million euros.

Eutelsat has recently attracted governments and investors seeking homegrown alternatives for secure satellite communications in Europe.

It owns the world's second-largest constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, OneWeb, with over 600 of them operating about 1,200 km (750 miles) above Earth.

Starlink has over 7,000 of the satellites in orbit and has made deep inroads with corporate customers, which are also among OneWeb's core markets along with governments and militaries.

Eutelsat reported a 10.2% rise in third-quarter government services revenue, its fastest-growing business, reflecting higher demand from non-U.S. governments.

Still, it flagged a contract renewal rate of 50%, lower than previous quarters owing to a change within the U.S. Department of Defense and the efforts by the President Donald Trump's administration to cut government spending overall.

"Excluding this one-off, the renewal rate would have been (around) 70%," Eutelsat said in a statement.

The company, which unexpectedly replaced its CEO earlier this month, confirmed its annual outlook.

($1 = 0.8943 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Joe Bavier)