On the spectrum
European officials and companies are increasingly concerned over Elon Musk’s possible future control over a strategically sensitive slice of the EU satellite spectrum used for mobile services such as cell phones, writes Barbara Moens.
Context: The 2GHz band in the EU, used for mobile satellite services, is currently used by American companies Viasat and EchoStar. Their licences are due to expire in May next year, opening the door to a new allocation process, which should attract interest from a wide array of players, including Musk’s Starlink platform, owned by his SpaceX group, and Chinese operators.
“This will determine who becomes the leader in space [for Europe],” said an industry official, echoing concerns by several other officials familiar with the issue.
The upcoming decision comes amid heightened debate around how Europe can mitigate and limit its dependence on American technology providers.
On top of that, a recent fine for Musk’s X social network has heightened tensions between the SpaceX owner and the European Commission. The bloc earlier this week also warned Musk to take more action about controversial images generated by its AI chatbot Grok.
Links between EchoStar and Starlink have recently raised alarm bells in the EU. Last fall, SpaceX bought wireless spectrum licences from EchoStar to bolster its Starlink network in the US.
Andrius Kubilius, the European commissioner for defence and space, told the FT that after the current licences expired, “we should not miss an opportunity to manage 2GHz allocations wisely”.
Kubilius added that the allocation was “a strategic enabler for space governmental communications, in particular for direct-to-device services”.
A commission spokesperson stressed renewal of the licences is not automatic.
“The aim is to strike a balance between ensuring a certain degree of continuity of deployed services and the future-proof use of the band for innovative satellite infrastructure and services such as secure communications, Direct-to-Device for broadband and Internet of Things use and the development of a competitive single market,” they said.
Starlink did not immediately respond to a request for comment.