Brussels Plans to Ringfence Two-Thirds of EU Mobile-Satellite Spectrum for European Firms
May 26, 2026 – 3:24 pm
The proposal expected to be announced on Wednesday would leave Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper able to bid only for the remaining third of the bloc’s 2 GHz mobile-satellite band.
According to a Reuters report on Tuesday citing people familiar with the proposal, the European Commission is preparing to reserve two-thirds of the bloc’s future mobile-satellite-services spectrum for European operators. Details are expected to be confirmed at a commissioners’ meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, though the structure could still shift before formal announcement.
The spectrum in question is the 2 GHz mobile-satellite-services (MSS) band, which allows mobile devices and vehicles to maintain a connection in regions where terrestrial networks are inaccessible. The current licenses, granted in 2009 to Inmarsat (now Viasat) and Solaris (now EchoStar), expire in May 2027.
The post-2027 allocation is what Wednesday’s decision concerns. EU member states, working through the Commission, control the band on a harmonized basis, which makes a single bloc-wide reservation possible.
The two-thirds split is the most significant instrument of industrial policy the Commission has employed in space to date. The reserved tranche would go to companies registered within the EU, with the United Kingdom and Norway also eligible to bid.
Brussels is set to allocate the European share primarily to operators behind IRIS2, a 290-satellite multi-orbit constellation being built by the SpaceRISE consortium of SES, Eutelsat, Hispasat, with Airbus, Thales Alenia Space, and OHB among the named contractors.
The 12-year IRIS2 concession was signed in December 2024 at an estimated cost of €10.5bn, approximately €6.5bn of which comes from public funds. Governmental services are scheduled to begin operating in 2030.
This decision aligns with a broader European push for “strategic autonomy” in space, driven by two interrelated concerns:
- Dependence on Starlink: Made acute by Elon Musk’s public threats to withdraw service in Ukraine and his political alignment with Donald Trump’s administration.
- European Frontier-Tech Policy: Brussels has been progressively restricting US firm access to strategically classified categories, from cybersecurity AI tools to cloud sovereignty to chip manufacturing equipment. The 2 GHz reservation is the most concrete indication yet that satellite communications is on this list.
While Starlink and Kuiper are not locked out under the proposed terms, one-third of the band would be open to non-EU bidders through a standard competitive selection process. Starlink’s direct-to-cell service could benefit from European MSS spectrum for large-scale operations on the continent, while Kuiper, still in the constellation deployment stage, has positioned itself for direct-to-device as a revenue stream in the back half of the decade.
Viasat and EchoStar, the incumbent licensees, find themselves in an awkward position. Both are US-listed companies.