Share with friends and circles of friends via wechat QR code < / P > < p > on July 25. According to foreign media reports, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday local time that French satellite company Eutelsat was preparing to acquire British competitor oneweb, and the deal could be announced as early as Monday

insiders said that oneweb was valued at $3.4 billion in the latest round of financing. Eutelsat already holds 23% of oneweb and is its second largest shareholder

eutelsat mainly operates satellites for customers such as the government and television broadcasters in higher geostationary orbit. The merger of the two companies will strengthen their position in the Internet competition for manufacturing LEO satellites, challenging the star chain network of SpaceX under Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and the project Kuiper of Amazon

after the completion of this acquisition, Indian billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal, France and the UK will jointly become shareholders of the merged entity. Bharti global is the largest shareholder of oneweb

eutelsat's largest shareholder is the French state-owned investment bank bpifrance, which holds 20% of the shares

for oneweb, the company was rescued from bankruptcy by the British government and Bharti global in India last year. People familiar with the matter said that the acquisition would give the British government a minority stake in the merged business

eutelsat has a market value of 2.4 billion euros (about 2.45 billion dollars) on the Paris Stock Exchange. By the end of 2021, its net debt was € 3billion

people familiar with the matter said that after the transaction is completed, the UK will reserve special rights to oneweb, including rejecting customers deemed dangerous for security reasons and rejecting the proposal to change the headquarters location

as early as February this year, French President Emmanuel macron said in a speech before European Ministers that building products that can compete with Musk's satellite network is a "sovereignty issue"

in five months, macron may realize his wish. Europe has been trying to build its own satellite system to reduce its dependence on Chinese and American technology. Macron has urged Europe to strengthen its space strategy since 2019

however, progress in Europe is far behind. In the past few years, SpaceX has launched nearly 3000 SATELLITE chains, and Amazon's koiper project is gradually taking shape. (small)