A Ukrainian company will produce satellite terminals under license. Will they replace Starlink?
11 April 13:35
The Ukrainian company STETMAN has signed an agreement with the Swedish company Requtech on the licensed serial production of advanced satellite terminals for the OneWeb (LEO) and Intelsat (GEO) platforms in Ukraine. This was announced by the head of the Ukrainian company Dmytro Stetsenko, reports
He explained that these are flat terminals similar to STARMOD’s Starlink car terminal.
“Thanks to this, Ukraine will have not only alternatives to Starlink, to which we are sincerely grateful for timely technological support and with which we will continue to cooperate, but also its own production of satellite equipment. First of all, this will meet our internal needs, and in the long run, it will allow us to export products to strengthen the European satellite infrastructure,” the head of the Ukrainian company wrote on Facebook.
Dev.ua asked Dmytro Stetsenko, CEO of STETMAN, what exactly his company will produce, under what conditions, and whether Swedish terminals can replace the Mask’s Starlink.
About Swedish Starlink
The head of the Ukrainian company explained that this terminal is similar in functionality to Starlink, but has a lower speed – 5/50 Mbps versus 20/200 Mbps.
“This is not a limitation of the terminal, but OneWeb has 10 times fewer satellites than Starlink. However, this is quite enough for security purposes,” emphasized Dmytro Stetsenko.
Can we talk about an alternative to Starlink?
“Yes, an alternative already exists,” Dmytro Stetsenko answered the question: “Will it become a real alternative to Starlink and will Ukraine be able to refuse Elon Musk’s connection?”
According to him, even before the start of licensed production, Ukrainians are already ready to supply terminals for the OneWeb network from Intellian, Kymeta, and Requtech.
“However, I believe that we do not need to abandon Starlink. It’s better to have backup systems and secure funding sources to use both networks,” adds Dmytro Stetsenko.
What does the agreement with the Swedish company envisage?
According to the head of the Ukrainian company STETMAN, the agreement does not fix a specific production volume – it is a license. For example, under an optimistic scenario, in 6 months, the Ukrainian company plans to launch production with a capacity of 2000 to 10000 terminals per month, paying Requtech a license fee for each product.
According to Dmytro Stetsenko, the Swedish side will provide the Ukrainian company with technical documentation and the right to manufacture the satellite terminal based on their Resa development.
“We will adapt it to our needs, adding our own design, security and components that we have already successfully used in STARMOD for Starlink and have been supplying to the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine for the past 2.5 years,” says Dmytro Stetsenko.
The production of several thousand terminals in Ukraine may further stimulate Eutelsat by accelerating the expansion of the OneWeb satellite constellation.
Interestingly, according to Dmytro Stetsenko, the company has already received the first requests from investment groups to finance the order and launch of satellites for the needs of Ukraine.
What is known about European alternatives to Starlink
One of the competitors of Elon Musk’s company is the French satellite operator Eutelsat. It owns two satellite constellations – OneWeb satellites operating at an altitude of 1200 km and Geo geostationary satellites located at an altitude of 35,000 km.
It was Eutelsat that, amid concerns about the stable presence of Elon Musk’s Starlink in Ukraine, negotiated with European governments to provide Ukraine with additional satellite communications capabilities.
Although at that time, the negotiations were not only under the auspices of Eutelsat. In addition to Eutelsat OneWeb, other alternative operators such as SES, Viasat, Inmarsat, and Hisdesat were involved in negotiations on providing services to Ukraine.
Currently, OneWeb already provides satellite services in Ukraine through a German distributor, but its capabilities are inferior to Starlink. Elon Musk’s company has more than 7,000 satellites in orbit, while OneWeb has only about 700. In addition, OneWeb’s terminals, which are targeted at businesses and government agencies, are larger and less mobile than Starlink’s devices.
What else is known about Eutelsat OneWeb
The Eutelsat Group was created in 2023 after the merger of the French company Eutelsat and the British OneWeb. According to Militarny, Eutelsat was founded in 1977 as an intergovernmental organization established by 17 European countries to develop satellite telecommunications in Western Europe. In 1983, the company launched its first satellite. In 2001, it was privatized and transformed into a commercial entity headquartered in Paris.
OneWeb was founded in 2012 by Greg Weiler to create a global satellite network of Internet communications in low Earth orbit (LEO). The first six satellites were launched in 2019.
As of March 2023, OneWeb has completed the deployment of its initial satellite network, which consists of 648 satellites in low Earth orbit. OneWeb satellites are located at an altitude of approximately 1200 km. Each satellite weighs about 150 kg and is equipped with two solar panels to provide energy.
