Rendering of a Eutelsat OneWeb satellite in orbit. Photo: Eutelsat

The past year has marked a scaling up for Eutelsat Group’s OneWeb Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) services, with the French operator saying Tuesday that LEO revenue grew by 84% year-over-year in its 2024-25 fiscal year. 

LEO revenue now represents 15% of total revenue for Eutelsat Group, with the operator citing growth in services to Ukraine and other governments. 

Eutelsat reported fully year results for its 2024-25 fiscal year on Aug. 5 after a busy quarter in which the operator named a new CEO, signed a 1 billion euro framework agreement with the French armed forces ministry DGA, and a capital raise with new investment from both the French and U.K. governments. 

“LEO is no longer an emerging technology. This is a proven and scalable solution that is really unlocking entirely new use cases,” new CEO Jean-François Fallacher told investors on Tuesday. 

Fallacher said Eutelsat’s action plan for further scaling OneWeb is to bring five more gateways into service to enter full global coverage in 2026. There are currently 39 gateways in service. He also said a new manpack terminal for military usage is in the works, along with a dedicated antenna for aviation service. 

In the 2024-25 fiscal year, Eutelsat reported 1.24 billion euros ($1.44 billion) in revenue, up 1.6% year-over-year on a like-for-like basis. 

Government Services saw the largest increase with 24% growth year-over-year on a like-for-like basis to 211 million euros ($244 million). 

Fallacher said the growth was on the back of LEO services, particularly to Ukraine, as well as other governments including Taiwan. 

He pointed to Eutelsat’s recent wins in the government sector and Eutelsat’s position as a European operator amid the “shifting geopolitical environment.” Without naming competitor Starlink, Fallacher said “we are the only one of two LEO operators that is currently not a U.S. company. … The strategic importance of that has been showcased by a number of deals.” 

Fixed Connectivity saw an increase of 4.3% year-over-year on a like-for-like basis, reporting revenue of 247 million euros ($286 million). Growth was from LEO-enabled solutions, despite “challenging conditions” for GEO services, Fallacher said. 

In one instance of GEO headwinds, Italian telco TIM discontinued a satellite broadband service with the Eutelsat Konnect satellite and ended revenue recognition on the contract. 

Mobile Connectivity was stable year-over-year at 160 million euros ($185 million). Fallacher said there was growing demand for LEO services, particularly in maritime. 

Video revenue declined 6.5% year-over-year on a like-for-like basis to 608 million euros ($704 million). Video still makes up 50% of group revenue. Part of the decline was due to Eutelsat removing Russian channels.