Ukraine has become too dependent on the Starlink satellite communication system, which belongs to the company of American billionaire Elon Musk. It is unlikely that it will be possible to get rid of this dependence due to the lack of alternatives.
This is stated in the material of the Politico publication.
The publication writes that Starlink has become vital for the Ukrainian army. In March of this year, Musk said that the entire front line would collapse, if only he disconnected Ukraine from the system.
To cope with this risk, the European Union is looking for backup options for Ukraine. One of them is the company Eutelsat. It offers Kyiv to get rid of dependence on Musk's system.
At the same time, Eutelsat admits that the currently available alternatives to Starlink are not ready to fight Musk.
"If we wanted to take on all the connectivity for Ukraine and all its citizens, we wouldn't be able to do it. Let's be completely honest. But I think we can provide the bandwidth for some critical government applications," said Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke.
According to Politico, few companies are investing in low-orbit satellites. Such systems provide faster connections and lower latency, which is crucial for real-time operations, but they remain expensive and cumbersome to operate.
Musk's Starlink leads the market, Eutelsat is a strong competitor, and other companies, such as Amazon's Project Kuiper, are still lagging behind.
According to experts, the solution provided by Starlink is unique. Musk's company managed to break down technical barriers and fill a void because there was nothing else.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on April 3 it became known that Ukraine received 5,000 Starlink terminals. They were transferred by Poland.
We also wrote that the russians are using Starlink terminals and SIM cards in the Shahed attack drones they are using to attack Ukraine.
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