Europe has offered to reserve two-thirds of the 2-GHz mobile satellite spectrum, whose renewal term expires next year, for European operators. This complicates SpaceX's D2D ambitions and the prospects for the European Aviation Network (ЕАМ) from Viasat.
For reference: D2D is technology, which allows ordinary smartphones to connect directly to satellites without the use of intermediate ground communication towers or special bulky satellite phones.
The European Aviation Network is the world's first hybrid high-speed Internet network (Wi-Fi) for passenger planes, which works throughout Europe.
27 May 2026 In 2015, the European Commission announced plans to divide the spectrum into three equal blocks. One third will be reserved for a European operator, which will provide a special government liaison, integrated into IRIS², a planned sovereign grouping of the European Union. The rest will be divided between the commercial block, reserved for "EU operators, which enter the market", and block, which will remain open to companies, located outside Europe. According to the EU's executive vice president for technological sovereignty, of security and democracy by Hanna Virkkunen, such measures will allow providing satellite and terrestrial communications directly to mobile devices, providing, that all EU territories, especially those, where terrestrial networks are not available, were equipped with voice communication and broadband Internet.
American Viasat currently uses this spectrum for its hybrid satellite-cellular EAM, while EchoStar plans to sell its assets, to boost SpaceX's Starlink Mobile D2D service. Luxembourg-based OQ Technology is one of the satellite companies, which tends to enter the range 2 GHz to provide sovereign D2D communications for Europe. US D2D project AST SpaceMobile has also registered plans in Germany for a European network through a joint venture with British mobile giant Vodafone.
The proposal still needs the approval of the European Parliament and the Council, which leaves room for change during consideration by lawmakers. It could also heighten transatlantic tensions over spectrum and space policy, as US officials and companies are already criticizing efforts to harmonize regulations on the continent through the European Space Act (the first pan-European law in history, aimed at creating a single market for space services and unifying the rules of space activities for all EU countries).
Source: https://spacenews.com