Benoit Berthelot

Eutelsat Communications SA and OneWeb Ltd. are set to combine in an all-share deal valuing the UK satellite operator at $3.4 billion, a step toward creating a European champion to rival the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. OneWeb shareholders will hold 50% of Eutelsat, which will continue to be listed in Paris and will ask to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.  Both the UK and French governments have stakes in OneWeb and Eutelsat respectively, and the UK will continue to own a special share, giving it certain veto rights over strategic decisions such as the location of the firm’s headquart

Through the “huge” growth of internet traffic, Big Tech is “forcing” phone companies to invest heavily in improving networks while not helping to meet the cost, said Orange SA CEO Christel Heydemann. “We are condemned to invest in infrastructure,” Heydemann said. She added that network traffic is expected to “multiply by three or five” times in the next six years. That huge growth is “essentially captured by a few players, the big content providers, five players that force us to invest,” she added.