OneWeb, the UK’s troubled but ambitious low earth orbit (LEO) satellite company, has moved to merge with Paris-based geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite platform operator Eutelsat in a 50/50 deal that values the combined company at $3.4 billion. The deal creates the first significant combined LEO/GEO operator able (in principle) to combine the best of both. But the newly-merged company, assuming it receives regulatory approval, will face various technological challenges before being able to offer a coherent and appealing combined offer, as well as strong competition from other players, even those just with LEO constellations. The proposed merger did not go down well with Eutelsat shareholders and the stock price fell 17% on the news. This reflected the risks for…