Amid Starlink crisis, Finnish tech giants announce plan to help Ukraine build its own sovereign satellite system

The Finnish tech companies ICEYE and Nokia signed a letter of intent with Ukraine's Defense Ministry on Oct. 22, formalizing a partnership aimed at developing Ukraine's own satellite communications system.

President Volodymyr Zelensky first announced the deal earlier in the day during Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's visit to Kyiv, calling the satellite agreement "important for our defense and for the resilience of Ukraine."

The agreement with Kyiv comes a few weeks after Nokia and ICEYE announced plans to collaborate on building "broadband low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications systems for governments." These systems will support national defense, emergency response services, and border security, among other applications.

Ukraine currently relies on a different broadband LEO satellite communications system: Starlink, a service run by U.S.-based company SpaceX. Starlink has proven essential for battlefield communications, mid-range drone strikes, and air defense.

But the system has also proven vulnerable, as Ukraine learned after a week of persistent disruptions to its Starlink services. While U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that full speed and functionality had been restored to Ukraine's Starlink, a Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent that the restrictions remained in place.  

The jointly developed systems that ICEYE and NOKIA want to create, however, would give nations ownership over their satellites, ground segment, and terminals, the companies said. Ukrainian forces on the front lines would therefore not lose access to mission-critical systems due to the shifting whims of foreign governments.

"Ukraine needs secure, sovereign, and high-performance satellite communications systems that it controls," ICEYE CEO Rafal Modrzewski said in a press release announcing the deal with Kyiv.

"We have a proven track record of delivering sovereign missions at speed to help build that capability. ICEYE has proudly supported Ukraine since 2022, and we remain committed to continuing that support today."

Nokia Defense Chairman Mikko Hautala echoed the sentiment, saying the project would give Ukraine "control over the connectivity it depends on."

ICEYE describes itself as "the European leader in sovereign intelligence from space" and telecommunications giant Nokia as "a global leader in connectivity infrastructure."