Eutelsat announced on January 2 that it had successfully restored services across its OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband network after a two-day disruption. The outage, which began on December 31, was caused by a software issue in the company's ground segment, according to a brief statement from the French satellite operator.
The disruption follows ongoing delays in the development and approval of OneWeb's ground infrastructure, which has hindered the company's ability to offer full global services since deploying enough satellites for worldwide coverage in 2023. While OneWeb is currently available in the Americas, large parts of Europe, and Asia, the company is aiming to provide full services for government and enterprise customers—including aviation—by this spring.
Eutelsat spokesperson Joanna Darlington explained that the software issue occurred due to a failure to account for 2024 being a leap year. “With the service fully restored, a full investigation will take place indeed to ensure it does not recur,” Darlington said in a statement.
Eutelsat, which also operates a fleet of 35 geostationary satellites, emphasized that its multi-orbit capabilities give it a competitive edge, especially in light of Starlink's dominance in the LEO market. The company plans to use its geostationary capacity in high-demand regions to supplement OneWeb services. While the geostationary satellites were not used as backup during the outage, Eutelsat notes that they provide network redundancy.
In addition, Eutelsat recently placed an order for 100 additional OneWeb satellites from Airbus Defence and Space to replenish the constellation as the current spacecraft near the end of their design lives in 2027 and 2028.
