Nobody wants a Musk monopoly on satellite internet: Eutelsat boss

LONDON - The boss of European satellite operator Eutelsat knows her task will not be easy: to forge a competitor to Elon Musk's Starlink and provide superfast internet from space.

"We have a lot of customers who want us to get there quickly," Eva Berneke told AFP in an interview.

"They tell us they took Starlink because there wasn't anyone else. But they want competition too. Nobody wants a monopoly."

Eutelsat recently merged with British operator OneWeb and is aiming to add telecoms and connectivity to its main business of broadcast media.

But Musk is not the only competitor. 

US magnate Jeff Bezos and the Chinese government also have ambitions to launch thousands of satellites.

"There's room for four or five operators," Berneke said of the emerging industry, comparing it to mobile phone networks. 

Satellite broadband promises to bring coverage to the most remote areas by doing away with the need for antennas and other infrastructure.

It will also supply internet to passenger planes and products like connected cars.