Europe turns satellite spectrum into a weapon against Starlink

Europe is getting ready to shut American satellite companies out of the majority of a key wireless frequency band, handing most of it to homegrown operators in what would be the bloc’s most significant space policy decision to date.

The European Commission is finalising a plan to set aside two-thirds of the 2 GHz mobile satellite band for European companies, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke to Reuters on Tuesday.

Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper would only be allowed to compete for what remains, one third of the total. A formal announcement was expected at a commissioners’ meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, though one source warned the details could still shift.

The band, a 30 MHz pair running between 1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz, is what lets mobile phones and vehicles stay connected where regular networks do not reach.

The licences covering it were issued in 2009 to Inmarsat, now part of Viasat, and Solaris, now EchoStar, and both expire in May 2027. Because EU member states manage this band collectively through the Commission, a single bloc-wide decision on what comes next is possible.

Europe’s IRIS2 stands to gain the most

The main winner under the proposal would be IRIS2, Europe’s 290-satellite constellation built by the SpaceRISE consortium of SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat, with Airbus, Thales Alenia Space and OHB as contractors.

A 12-year contract was signed in December 2024 at around €10.5 billion, with roughly €6.5 billion coming from public money. Government services are expected to go live in 2030. British and Norwegian companies would also be eligible to bid.

The decision reflects Europe’s growing unease about relying on American technology for critical infrastructure. Musk’s threats to cut Starlink access in Ukraine sharpened that concern, as did his closeness with Donald Trump’s administration. Brussels has been tightening access for US companies across sensitive sectors from cloud services and chip equipment to cybersecurity tools, and satellite communications now appears on the same list.

Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said on Tuesday that EU-wide satellite connectivity had become “synonymous with resilience, security, and capability” given the current geopolitical climate. “Satellite connectivity is a key piece of our technological sovereignty, our security, and our defence, as also highlighted by IRIS2,” he said.

One commissioner pushed for a full lockout

The proposal was not without internal disagreement. One commissioner argued the entire band should go to European businesses with no outside access at all, putting them at odds with EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen, who opposed a full lockout. According to one source, Virkkunen was expected to prevail, which is how the two-thirds compromise landed.

The current licence holders, Viasat and EchoStar, face an uncomfortable position. Both are American-listed, meaning they would be treated as non-European bidders and pushed into the smaller open portion despite holding the licences today. Whether either could get around that through partnerships or restructuring is a question Wednesday’s announcement was unlikely to answer.

Starlink and Kuiper are not being removed from Europe entirely, but limiting them to one third of the only regulated band that mobile operators rely on for direct-to-device services puts a hard ceiling on how far they can grow on the continent. The Commission’s formal proposal was expected Wednesday afternoon, Brussels time.

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