OneWeb Broadband Satellites Help Lift LEO Revenues 69.5 Percent at Eutelsat

European satellite operator Eutelsat just published their results for the year ended 30th June 2026 and reported that their revenues from OneWeb’s constellation of ultrafast broadband satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) “beat expectations“, jumping by 69.5% to €297m (accounting for 25% of the group’s overall revenues).

OneWeb, which regular readers may recall was originally rescued from bankruptcy by the UK government and Indian group Bharti Global, before later becoming a part of Eutelsat – with concessions (here), currently has 654 small (c.150kg) first generation (GEN1) LEO satellites in space – orbiting at an altitude of 1,200km (c.600 of them for coverage and the rest for redundancy).

Plans also exist to renew and enhance the constellation with a further 440 satellites being planned for launch (aka – “Eutelsat Next“) – starting later in 2026 (here). Eutelsat’s latest results also confirm that an approximately €1 billion Export Credit Agency (ECA)-backed financing facility exists to support the acquisition of those new satellites from Airbus Defence and Space.

“These satellites will provide full operational continuity for OneWeb LEO constellation customers, gradually replacing existing satellites at the end of their operational life,” said the company. The results didn’t add much to that, but did reveal that the OneWeb side of the business now has 496 employees, which is slightly down from the 510 they had last year.

The first of the second generation of Eutelsat’s LEO satellites (Eutelsat Next) are due to be delivered by around the end of 2026. The first generation OneWeb satellites will then be gradually de-orbited as they reach the end of their useful lifespan (LEO spacecraft are designed to only have a short c.5 year lifespan before gravity and atmospheric drag pulls them down again).