Eutelsat's Ground Game Stumbles While Its Orbital Ambitions Accelerate

Eutelsat's LEO revenue surges 60% and secures €350M defense deal, but share price falls 55% from high amid failed asset sale and regulatory hurdles.

The disconnect between Eutelsat's performance in space and its reception on the stock market has rarely been wider. The satellite operator's low-Earth-orbit business is expanding at a rapid clip, and new contracts keep rolling in from military and government clients. Yet the share price keeps sliding, weighed down by a collapsed asset sale, regulatory friction, and a compensation package that pales next to a rival's.

Shares last changed hands at €2.08, a modest 0.92 percent gain on the day, but the bounce does little to mask a brutal stretch. Over the past 30 days, the stock has shed 18.7 percent of its value, leaving it roughly 55 percent below its 52-week high of €4.62. The recent selling pressure has pushed the relative strength index to 37.8, a reading that suggests the equity is drifting toward oversold territory. With annualized volatility hovering near 50 percent, traders are bracing for sharp moves in either direction.

LEO Momentum Builds, One Contract at a Time

The growth story remains intact where it matters most operationally. Revenue in the low-Earth-orbit segment — the former OneWeb business — jumped nearly 60 percent in the first half of the fiscal year, reaching approximately €111 million. That expansion is cushioning the steady erosion in the legacy video division, which now accounts for less than half of group revenue.

Government and defense work is becoming an increasingly important pillar of that LEO push. Eutelsat recently secured a €350 million order through the French defense procurement agency DGA under the Centaure program, a call-off from the broader NEXUS framework agreement worth €1 billion in total. The win follows a demonstration in early August in which Hanwha Systems showcased new networking technology for the South Korean navy, built around Eutelsat's OneWeb constellation and featuring layered communications systems and so-called "physical AI" for unmanned maritime vessels.

The company is also laying groundwork for the next generation of infrastructure. Eutelsat has filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for a new satellite constellation dubbed "Eutelsat Next," which would add 528 satellites to its fleet and deliver secure, high-capacity communications services worldwide. The filing underscores the operator's ambition to run a true multi-orbit business, straddling both low-Earth and geostationary orbits.

The €550 Million Setback

The operational wins, however, are colliding with a series of setbacks on the ground. The planned €550 million sale of ground stations to EQT Infrastructure VI has fallen through after French authorities blocked the transaction over concerns about national sovereignty over critical infrastructure. The collapse forces Eutelsat to revise its deleveraging trajectory: net debt-to-EBITDA is now expected to land at 2.7, up from the 2.5 the company had originally targeted.

A Compensation Package That Invites Comparisons

Another point of contention centers on the C-band spectrum transition. Eutelsat is due to receive $504 million — roughly €443 million — from the FCC for clearing upper C-band spectrum for mobile operators. The payment, however, is tied to strict deadlines for spectrum clearance and will not flow in full until 2031 at the earliest.

The optics are difficult to ignore. Rival SES secured $5.6 billion for a comparable exercise — more than ten times what Eutelsat was awarded. Analysts point to that gap as a structural disadvantage for Eutelsat relative to its industry peer, and the disparity has become a flashpoint in investor discussions. Optimists frame the FCC payment as a welcome liquidity injection for the capital-intensive shift toward a "connectivity-first" model. Skeptics counter that the timing and conditions attached to the money blunt its usefulness.

The August Report as a Referendum

All of this sets the stage for the annual results, due to be published in August 2026. The report will serve as a referendum on whether the LEO growth engine can offset the margin pressure in broadcast and whether the multi-orbit strategy — running legacy geostationary satellites alongside the OneWeb constellation — can deliver financially, not just technologically.

Investors will also be watching for updates on the European IRIS² program, where Eutelsat holds a leading role. The company recently signed an agreement with Poland to deepen cooperation on satellite infrastructure, a sign that the institutional backing for its European ambitions remains intact even as the market questions the near-term financial picture.