EU telecom ministers gathered in Limerick, Ireland, on Tuesday to discuss a legislative proposal that could make it easier for Europe’s biggest carriers to get hold of satellite spectrum, according to Politico Europe. The target of the push, the outlet reports, is Starlink, the low-Earth-orbit satellite internet network run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The plan — first reported by Bloomberg ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s September 10 speech, and since confirmed to Politico by two people aware of the talks — would see four of the continent’s largest operators join forces to secure frequencies that become available next year, with the European Commission weighing an allocation procedure that reserves airwaves for European players.
Key facts
- Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica — the German, French, British and Spanish telecom groups — would team up to bid for the frequencies, Politico reports.
- The EU is set to reallocate the 2GHz satellite communications band in 2027, and Tuesday’s proposal would tilt the licensing process toward European operators.
- The prize is small but strategic. Under the bloc’s mobile satellite services rules the 2GHz band runs to roughly 60 MHz in total — 1,980–2,010 MHz for uplink and 2,170–2,200 MHz for downlink — less than a tenth of what SpaceX got when it bought 800 MHz of spectrum in the United States this month for its mobile push. It is enough for text, voice and basic data on an ordinary handset, not for broadband speeds.
- Rights to the band were awarded in 2009 to two selected operators for 18 years under the Commission’s own selection decision — which is why the airwaves fall free in 2027 and why the licensing rules written now will decide who holds them for the next cycle.
- The fight is over direct-to-device connectivity: a service in which an ordinary mobile phone connects straight to a satellite, with no cell tower in between.
- Macron used his September 10 speech at the International Space Summit in Paris to call on top European players to form a new “alliance” to strengthen collective satellite capacity.
- SpaceX did not respond to Politico’s request for comment.
Why it matters
Starlink is pinning its hopes on obtaining these frequencies so it can sell mobile services without having to partner with local telecom providers, Politico reports. If the EU reserves the band for European bidders, that route closes in the bloc. Legislators in Brussels are increasingly determined to stop Musk achieving his ambition to dominate globally, and Michał Kobosko, of Macron’s centrist Renew group, put the stake bluntly to the outlet:
Europe cannot cede full control over its satellite communications to non-European companies.
Michał Kobosko, MEP, Renew Europe, speaking to Politico Europe
For consumers, the practical question is who sells satellite-to-phone service in Europe and at what price. On the timeline as it stands, nothing changes hands before the 2027 reallocation, so the first European offers are unlikely to reach handsets much earlier — and if the band goes to a carrier consortium, the service most likely arrives as a paid add-on to an existing mobile contract, priced by Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone or Telefónica, rather than as a plan bought directly from SpaceX.
The carrier alliance taking shape
Only one of the four named operators would discuss the plan. Michaël Trabbia, a senior executive at France-based Orange, said the group was looking at it and wanted to offer the service to its own customers, adding: “We don’t want to have one dominant player.” He declined to go further.
Vodafone declined to comment, while Deutsche Telekom and Telefónica did not respond to requests for comment.
Politico frames the interest in space as part of a wider European shift, with geopolitical conflicts raising the strategic importance of orbit while security demands and technological progress open business opportunities. That same logic sits behind the bloc’s own satellite constellation plans.
Parliament moves to raise the bar
Angelika Winzig, the European Parliament’s lead negotiator on the allocation of mobile satellite spectrum, told the outlet that European operators should come together and bring innovation and investment, saying there was a lot for them to do.
Winzig and other lawmakers from the mainstream political groups have filed amendments to the Commission’s May proposal that would raise the barrier for non-European players seeking access to the airwaves. Kobosko is pushing to make it easier for European telecom consortiums to go after the asset.
Starlink’s counter-push in Brussels
Starlink has stepped up its lobbying in Brussels over the past two years, holding more meetings with the Commission and with lawmakers ahead of policy initiatives that could hold back its expansion.
Earlier this year the company warned that the EU plan would leave Europeans without reliable direct-to-device services, arguing in a four-page submission that its consumer-facing units, Starlink Broadband and Starlink Mobile, have done more to meet the Commission’s connectivity goals than any other satellite operator. The submission also warned the plan could create global interference problems, including for emergency services such as those in Ukraine, where the satellite internet network has become a vital resource for wartime communications in Ukraine.
Crisis response as a route to approval
Starlink has often been quick to offer help during emergencies across Europe — efforts Politico describes as a deliberate push to showcase the technology’s reliability and relevance and to win over the regulators whose approval the company needs.
France is the clearest case. SpaceX had been working behind the scenes to persuade French authorities that activating Starlink Mobile in the country for the first time would be both useful and necessary, the outlet reports, and the summer wildfires offered the opening: as the fires swept the country, the company offered communications support to French firefighting teams, as it was doing in Spain. French authorities declined, saying the fires had not caused widespread damage to telecom infrastructure.
Célestine Rabouam, a researcher at the French Institute of Geopolitics (GEODE), said the pattern appears wherever there are humanitarian or climate-related crises, with Starlink stepping in to send terminals and activate service. It is currently the only operator able to deploy so quickly and adapt so easily, she added.
The company may not be trying to make countries dependent on it — it is trying to make itself indispensable.
Célestine Rabouam, French Institute of Geopolitics (GEODE), as reported by Politico Europe
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Europeans buy Starlink Mobile today?
No. A satellite-to-phone service in the EU needs rights in the 2GHz mobile satellite band, and those were handed to other operators in 2009 under the Commission’s selection decision; they do not fall free until 2027. Politico Europe reports SpaceX wants to avoid the alternative route of partnering with local mobile operators.
What did French operators tell their government about satellite connectivity?
In a memo sent to government officials and seen by Politico Europe, French operators argued that terrestrial networks should remain the priority while acknowledging that satellite communications can play a complementary role. The memo cited European initiatives including Eutelsat and the IRIS² constellation, and never mentioned Starlink.
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