Eutelsat's OneWeb LEO constellation, explained by Eutelsat (video)

In this video

Published by Eutelsat on 16 July 2026, this 2 minute 30 second corporate explainer presents the OneWeb constellation as Eutelsat markets it: a low Earth orbit network delivering high-speed, low-latency internet on land, at sea and in the air. It is short and promotional; its value is that it is the operator's own description, current as of mid-2026, after the Eutelsat-OneWeb merger of 2023.

The facts behind it

• Constellation: more than 600 satellites in 12 synchronised near-polar planes at about 1,200 km, each completing an orbit in roughly 109 minutes; the higher altitude (Starlink flies at 540 to 570 km) means fewer satellites for global coverage and a slightly higher latency, around 70 ms.
• Architecture: bent-pipe payloads, with Ka-band gateway links and Ku-band user links; no inter-satellite lasers in the first generation, so every user beam must see a gateway.
• Go-to-market: OneWeb does not sell to end users. Capacity goes through distribution partners and integrators, which is why the companies in our OneWeb providers listing are the buying route for an enterprise.
• What changed in September 2026: at the Paris International Space Summit Eutelsat ordered 229 more OneWeb Gen 1.5 satellites from Airbus (669 contracted for the next generation in total), said it would keep about 1,300 OneWeb satellites active by 2030, and signed the contracts for the LEO segment of Europe's IRIS² constellation (Aerospacelab as prime for 264 platforms, Airbus for 66 Ka-band satellites, Thales Alenia Space for 330 payloads), with full IRIS² service expected around 2032.

Why it matters for a business buyer

OneWeb is the only LEO alternative to Starlink an enterprise can contract today, and the one European and government buyers turn to for sovereignty reasons; Bloomberg's March 2025 report on Europe reconsidering its dependence on Starlink is the political backdrop. It is sold as committed-rate, managed capacity, closer to VSAT commercially than to Starlink's monthly plans, and it is the usual second LEO vendor in a dual-vendor design. For ships, our maritime comparison explains where OneWeb sits between Starlink and GEO.

Watch this if

You need a two-minute introduction for a colleague before a distributor meeting, or a clean statement of how Eutelsat positions the network in 2026. Skip it if you want engineering detail: for that, the OneWeb definition and the Walker constellation entry are more useful.

Go further

Directories: OneWeb providers, Starlink in Europe, enterprise satellite solutions. Definitions: multi-orbit networking, satellite operator.