Kyiv said this week that SpaceX imposed new limits on its military-grade Starlink service without warning, reducing connectivity and making it harder to repel attacks. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, "Starlink was switched off," adding, "They knew what they did." He continued, "It's not about attack. It's also about defending the lives… People were killed because not enough destroying, not enough interceptors, including interceptors with Starlink, which didn't work."
Elon Musk shifted responsibility to Washington, saying Starshield systems were under the control of the U.S. government and President Donald Trump. The dispute added to tensions between the U.S. and Ukraine.
Eutelsat rallied on the developments. The stock climbed 17.7% on Friday, with a five-day advance of 25%, after reports about Starlink's difficulties in Ukraine. A market quote block showed Eutelsat Communications SA | Data is delayed | Exchange | EUR with a last price of 1.77 and a change of +0.26 (+16.91%) at 5:35 PM CEST.
Deutsche Bank analysts said the surge this week supports "the sovereign value of European Satellite networks," and that markets saw Eutelsat as "the credible Starlink alternative." They cautioned that while Eutelsat offers a global LEO constellation - low Earth orbit satellites - it "lacks the scale to offer the number of terminals that Starlink can provide," and they "would expect the shares to give up some of the gains."
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Serhiy Derkach, Ukraine's deputy minister overseeing recovery, infrastructure, and transport, told CNBC that Russia has stepped up attacks on infrastructure, pointing to restrictions on military uses. He said targets included bridges, railways, and border crossings, adding, "With U.S. limiting the use of Starlinks on the battlefield, Russia feels that this is their moment to try and inflict even more pain and suffering on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure." He warned of "very harsh weeks and months" and said blackouts already last 4-12 hours per day.
Eutelsat consolidated with OneWeb in 2023 to challenge Starlink. Company websites show Eutelsat has over 600 satellites in orbit, versus more than 6,750 for Starlink. The bottom line: policy moves and battlefield constraints can quickly reroute market expectations toward perceived substitutes, especially in critical connectivity.
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