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French container shipping group CMA CGM will test Eutelsat’s satellite broadband network against Elon Musk’s Starlink on its fleet, in a show of support for the European contender.
The world’s third-biggest container shipping company is installing antennas to capture Eutelsat’s OneWeb services across the roughly 350 boats it owns, under a two-year contract that will see it switch between the networks before it potentially retains one.
It did not release financial details for the deal, which comes at a critical time for Eutelsat as it tries to drum up business for its low Earth orbit (LEO) network — a market dominated by Starlink, which is owned by Musk’s SpaceX.
Ramon Fernandez, CMA CGM’s finance chief, told the FT that although the two services were complementary, the company could “in time choose the operator that best meets our needs”.
The lower Earth orbit is becoming an increasingly important market, promising high-speed connectivity and lower latency — the speed it takes for a signal to travel from Earth to a satellite and back — than traditional operators in higher orbit.
CMA CGM’s move is a big bet on OneWeb, which has less than a tenth of the 9,000 plus satellites operated by Starlink in the lower orbit region and which is widely seen as having older technology it is racing to renew.
Having two LEO networks to rely on — on top of the much higher geostationary satellites already operated by Eutelsat — would give CMA CGM “maximum security” for its connectivity, Fernandez said.
OneWeb is also trying to update its LEO constellation of more than 600 satellites. It ordered a new batch of 340 from Airbus in January, due to be delivered from the end of this year.
To finance these and another 100 already on order, Eutelsat, which is listed in Paris, raised a €1bn loan from banks last week guaranteed by the French state.
France is now its main shareholder with an almost 30 per cent holding, after the government upped its stake in a capital raising last year. Britain, which had rescued OneWeb from bankruptcy before its 2023 sale to Eutelsat, has 11 per cent.
Marseille-based CMA CGM, which is held by the Saadé family, also owns over 7 per cent of Eutelsat.
Flush with cash after the Covid pandemic pushed up shipping rates, CMA CGM has expanded into logistics, media and other areas under chief executive Rodolphe Saadé. It bought into Eutelsat in 2022, and the group has been a visible supporter of French state interests.
“It’s clear that in a fragmenting world, being able to rely on alternatives, and especially a European solution is an important element for a global company like us that is also French and European,” Fernandez said of the contract with OneWeb.
He said adding the service “would not translate into additional costs” for CMA CGM, as it would use Eutelsat’s high-orbit geostationary satellite services less as it turns to its LEO network.
SpaceX, which owns Starlink, did not respond to a request for comment.
Like its shipping rivals, CMA CGM needs connectivity to deliver high-speed broadband on board but also map out weather patterns and currents, allowing it to also operate as efficiently as possible as it covers global shipping routes.
OneWeb, which will be deployed on CMA CGM ships in partnership with telecoms specialist Marlink Group, has been trying to notch up clients as Eutelsat stabilises its finances, including after a €1.5bn capital raising last year.
In the first six months of Eutelsat’s fiscal year, ending December 2025, LEO revenues were up 60 per cent year on year to €111mn. The group reduced its net losses from a year earlier, from €873mn to €237mn.
