Eutelsat shares surge sharply after Ukraine’s statements about Starlink restrictions

Shares of French satellite operator Eutelsat posted their biggest single-day gain in 16 months on Wednesday, October 14, after Ukraine said SpaceX had restricted the military service level of Starlink.

According to Reuters, investors are betting that European providers could benefit from growing tensions between Washington and Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials said that Starshield connectivity dropped out when terminals were moving at high speed. This hampered the operation of strike drones and air defense systems.

“Last night, SpaceX introduced a speed restriction for moving Starlink terminals,” said presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov.

According to him, the restriction applies at speeds above 160 kilometers per hour, and some combat missions had to be called off. Elon Musk wrote on X that Starshield belongs to the U.S. government and is under its control, and that any speed or usage restrictions are a decision of the U.S. military and the president.

The outage came amid a fresh deterioration in relations between President Donald Trump and Kyiv. In addition, Volodymyr Zelensky said that for two nights in a row Ukraine had not received warnings from its partners about Russian ballistic missile strikes.

Shares of Luxembourg-based competitor SES also rose alongside Eutelsat. Bernstein analyst Alexander Peterc linked the rally to the U.S. administration’s stance, which has put “European providers back in the spotlight as a possible alternative.”

Nevertheless, analysts and officials warn that the rally does not change the situation on the battlefield. Independent satellite communications consultant Christian Freiherr von der Ropp said that Eutelsat’s OneWeb network is poorly suited for wartime use. He pointed to limited bandwidth and the “cost, weight, dimensions, and power consumption of user terminals.” He also noted that switching to it would require replacing thousands of proprietary Starlink terminals. According to Reuters, Europe has no ready alternative that Ukrainian forces could install on their drones.

European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius said that Europe is “quite heavily dependent on American space capabilities.” He named the planned IRIS2 satellite constellation as a solution, though it is still several years away from becoming operational. The European Commission is discussing granting Ukraine access to the EU’s Govsatcom system and plans to add commercial capacity in early 2027. IRIS2 is expected to be fully operational in 2029.

Bohdan Sas, co-founder of Ukrainian startup Buntar Aerospace, noted that this case shows “you cannot rely on a single solution that can be switched off.” In his words, sovereign capabilities mean that “you are not dependent on someone’s momentary mood.”