Brussels plans to ringfence two-thirds of EU mobile-satellite spectrum for European firms

https://media.thenextweb.com/2026/05/European-Commision.avif

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.


The European Commission is preparing to reserve two-thirds of the bloc’s future mobile-satellite-services spectrum for European operators, leaving Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper and other non-EU companies able to bid only for the remaining third, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday citing people familiar with the proposal.

Details are expected to be confirmed at a meeting of commissioners in Brussels on Wednesday, though the people cautioned that the structure could still shift before formal announcement.

The spectrum in question is the 2 GHz mobile-satellite-services (MSS) band, the 30 MHz pair of frequencies between 1980-2010 MHz and 2170-2200 MHz that allows mobile devices and vehicles to keep a connection in regions where terrestrial mobile networks cannot reach. The current licences, granted in...

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