By Gianluca Lo Nostro

(Reuters) -French satellite operator Eutelsat met quarterly revenue estimates on Thursday, as the European rival to SpaceX's Starlink attracted new government customers for its OneWeb satellites.

The group's total revenue in the third quarter of the 2024-25 fiscal year that ended in March was 300 million euros ($335.46 million), a 1.9% drop from last year.

The average analyst estimate was 302 million euros in a company-compiled poll with the lowest at 294 million euros.

Eutelsat has recently attracted governments and investors seeking homegrown alternatives for secure satellite communications in Europe.

It owns the world's second-largest constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites, OneWeb, with over 600 operating about 1,200 km (750 miles) above Earth.

Starlink has over 7,000 of the satellites in orbit and has made deep inroads with corporate customers, which are also among OneWeb's core markets along with governments and militaries.

Eutelsat reported a 10.2% rise in third-quarter government services revenue, its fastest-growing business, reflecting higher demand from non-U.S. countries for satellite-based connectivity.

"With the current geopolitics there is interest from many countries... Many non-aligned countries are seeking for alternative, non-American, non-Chinese solutions," Finance chief Christophe Caudrelier said in a post-earnings call.

Still, Eutelsat flagged a contract renewal rate of 50%, lower than previous quarters, owing to a change within the U.S. Department of Defense and efforts by the President Donald Trump's administration to cut government spending overall.

"Excluding this one-off, the renewal rate would have been (around) 70%," it said in a statement.

Caudrelier confirmed that the group is in active discussions with potential capital providers for the upcoming financing plan. "We are clearly looking for capital investors," he said.

The company, which unexpectedly replaced its CEO earlier this month, confirmed its annual outlook despite a 16 million euro revenue hit from EU sanctions requiring it to stop broadcasting Russian channels.

($1 = 0.8943 euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Joe Bavier and Bill Berkrot)

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