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TAMPA, Fla. — Eutelsat has signed a 975 million euro ($1.2 billion) France-backed export credit agency financing package to help fund 440 replacement satellites for its OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband constellation.
The French satellite operator said Feb. 11 the loan from a group of commercial banks, backed by a French state guarantee via Bpifrance Assurance Export, is subject to a bond issuance and other conditions.
It comes after Eutelsat raised about 1.5 billion euros from shareholders last year, meaning the company has now secured financing to cover its estimated 2.2 billion euros needed to replenish OneWeb over the next three years.
The operator has already ordered 440 satellites from Airbus Defence and Space for the plan, with deliveries slated to begin at the end of 2026.
Most of the 654 satellites in OneWeb’s current generation were launched between 2020 and 2023, giving the constellation a design life extending to around 2027-2028.
“We are delighted to secure this crucial aspect of Eutelsat’s refinancing plan,” Eutelsat CEO Jean-Francois Fallacher said in a statement.
“We are grateful to the French State for its unwavering support. This funding significantly strengthens our financial structure and gives us the means to support the deployment of our LEO activities”.
The company has also committed about 2 billion euros for its share of Europe’s IRIS² public-private partnership, which envisions sovereign broadband services around the end of the decade.
Export credit agency financing, which is typically cheaper and comes with better terms than other forms of debt, used to be prevalent in the commercial space industry before bonds and other financing alternatives rose to the fore.