The European Commission told EUROPE, on Tuesday 26 July, in reaction to the plan to mergeEutelsat and OneWeb, that it will be vigilant when awarding future public procurements in the framework of the future satellite-based Secure Connectivity.
Eutelsat and OneWeb officially sealed a plan to merge their activities on Tuesday 26 July. The operation aims to combine the geostationary (GEO) satellite fleet of the French company Eutelsat with the low earth orbit (LEO) constellation of the British company OneWeb. Objective: to position itself to conquer a booming connectivity market (see EUROPE 12999/7).
This is a situation that could be problematic for future participation in the European constellation. “With regard to the potential conflict of interest, Eutelsat participated in a Secure Connectivity study which was commissioned in 2020 and concluded in March 2022 Eutelsat was part of the consortium led by Airbus. The technical activity of the study is now concluded and no further elements from the study are expected by the Commission from Eutelsat”, the European Commission spokeswoman Sonya Gospodinova told EUROPE.
However, she added, with regard to future public procurements, “the Commission will proceed with an assessment of compliance of any economic operator with the participating conditions for the preservation of the security, integrity and resilience of operational systems of the Union”. In particular, the risks of dependencies and interference from third countries will be analysed.
The European Commission is closely following the negotiations on the future constellation. The EU Council has already adopted its position (see EUROPE 12993/6). The European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is expected to adopt its position in October (see EUROPE 12998/21). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)