Eutelsat Comes out Punching in French Sky Fight for Supremacy

European-based Eutelsat is fighting back in the battle to win the contract to supply broadband to SNCF trains. The French owned satellite service provider has been outlining its strengths to industry magazine - Payload Space.

Eutelsat OneWeb is one of two most likely competitors for the recently announced tender to provide satellite-delivered broadband to French national train operator SNCF. While the bids have yet to be received, Eutelsat is banging the drum for its local connections. For its part, the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX - Starlink has been keeping its powder dry and did not comment in the Payload article.

Government-owned SNCF confirmed last month that it plans to employ an "innovative approach to strengthen connectivity and resilience" by combining terrestrial networks with low Earth-orbit satellite solutions.

The main aim of the trial is to try to ensure a consistent and continuous service for all trains running across the sprawling French rail network. As with other recent trials in Scotland, Italy and Lithuania, the pilot scheme will combine cellular connectivity with satellite to ensure dead zones are eliminated and a fast, stable online connection can be maintained across the entire route.

Eutelsat is arguing that it is the only French satcom operator active in LEO. In addition, it says it will form partnerships with other French players, such as orange, to establish a “robust homegrown team to meet SNCF’s connectivity needs.”

The company is clearly hopeful that the French government will be hesitant to tie itself to a foreign satcom service. According to a Eutelsat spokesperson quoted by Payload, “The recent geopolitical situation has alerted Europe…that it cannot rely solely on the US in the matter of sovereign infrastructure.” And this seemed to be confirmed by French President Emmanuel Macron at the recent Paris Air Show, when he said that it would be “madness” to rely on foreign providers of satellite services.

All the same, Air France has recently signed up Starlink to provide it with WiFi on the go.

OneWeb, Eutelsat’s satellite service claims over 600 LEO satellites providing internet access in outlying areas. For its part, Elon Musk’s company currently boasts a constellation of several thousand satellites orbiting Earth at approximately 550km which it says can deliver connection speeds of up to 220Mbps and latency of around ~40 ms.

So, the battle now seems to be set between national pride but perhaps a longer roll out, versus the ability of Starlink to provide almost instantaneous service.

LEO satellite-delivered broadband services to trains, onboard WiFi and trackside communications systems and will feature heavily at this year’s Traincomms Conference in London (www.Traincomms.com ).

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