Four big European telecom companies considering partnership to block Starlink
A good product strikes fear in old established telecoms
Though not confirmed as yet publicly, four long-established European telecommunications companies appear to be in negotiations to form a joint effort to obtain spectrum for developing a phone-to-satellite constellation that would block both SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Leo from European markets.
Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone are reportedly hatching a plan to take on SpaceX’s Starlink in Europe with a joint bid for mobile satellite spectrum to deliver their own direct-to-device (D2D) services, according to Bloomberg. The report said the four biggest European telcos are in early talks about forming a consortium to bid for spectrum, citing people familiar with the matter. The discussions seem to be just talk for now, given the unnamed sources noted no final decisions have been made about the consortium or spectrum bidding plans.
The joint consortium would then bid for spectrum that is currently held by Echostar and Viasat that will become available in 2027 when their licenses expire. The Echostar spectrum at present belongs to SpaceX as part of SpaceX’s 2025 purchase.
This whole deal is sparked by the European Union’s plans — not yet approved — to re-alocate this spectrum to favor European companies, limiting bidding access for non-Europeans companies to only one-third of the frequencies. By pooling their resources, these companies increase their chances to win the spectrum. Meanwhile, these new anti-American proposed rules are likely another reason the White House asked American companies to pull out of this week’s French space summit, and those companies immediately agreed.
Nor are these established European telecoms the only ones attempting to team up. In May 2026 Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile agreed to form their own consortium, aimed at competing more effectively with both Starlink and Leo.
What I find lacking in all these plans is a commitment to produce a better product. These established companies seem instead more intent in creating a powerful entity capable of blocking the new kids on the block.
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Canada’s trying something similar with Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation. The proposal is for nearly 200 LEO birds but, as far as I can tell, none have been built, let alone launched.
Like with the proposed European consortium, I’ll believe it when I see it. Both look like attempts to get at Musk, perhaps due to his association with Trump.
Related:
PUT THESE STORIES TOGETHER AND TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE?
“In the A.I. dependent future there may not be any room for humans? The roads and sky’s will have to be rid of all human automobile, truck and flying operation and A.I. may at any time decide to kill everyone near, in or operating a machine or within its reach and affect? Oy!”
https://www.sigma3ioc.com/post/put-these-stories-together-and-tell-me-what-you-see
Clicked that link and did not even see a news article…
High level though, how does ONE EMPLOYEE’s opinion who quit Anthropic have any bearing on the telecom article posted?
I’m now questioning if the poster is a bot because I can’t see a connection. At all. Maybe I am drunk?
What safeguards are in place to ensure no bots are contributing to this site Bob?
Have you considered that your “dissenting” opinions presented over the years are nothing but a tactical OP?
Maybe you are in fact drunk?
Cotour is a real person. He just uses BtB to link to his opinion pieces on his own website. I’ve told him this is a very ineffective way to produce traffic, but he persists, and I don’t particularly mind. He has good thoughts.
I clicked on the link and it works just fine.
If I write something that I can see is in some manner related to a post on BTB I note that with “Related”, And if it is like Wayne would state, “Tangential” or a stretch I also note that.
If we are talking about Elon, Starlink and A.I. / Technology then if a high-level Anthropic employee resigns because he truly believes what they are working may in fact kill most of humanity, I think that is worthwhile at least considering. And I supported that thought with back up real-world instances where you might get a glimpse into the future and what at least some element of A.I. may deliver.
It is more the thinking and logic string that I am concerned with, if something more comes of it then so be it but that is not really my primary concern here on BTB.
BTB is worthwhile in a world that continually grows more and more unreal and blurred, due to technology and A.I.
And behold, a cartel forms.
Yup and the result is something like what we have here in Canada: the market divided between a handful of firms, high prices, and, quite likely, lousy customer service.
One of my neighbours across the hall from me is Ukrainian, coming over shortly after the war started. One day, we were chatting and she remarked that she was unpleasantly surprised at how high the prices for cell phone service are.
One reason for that, I believe, is that the aforementioned companies have consolidated telephone (both landline and cellular), Internet, cable TV, and, in some cases, satellite services. (It’s a long, and often confusing, story how that came about.)
That’s, perhaps, one reason why Starlink has found favour with many Canadians. People have been dumping direct-to-home satellite dishes on the second-hand market, often for pennies on the dollar, or even for free, because they prefer what Musk has to offer. Mention either “Bell” or “Rogers” (two of the largest Canadian telecoms) to someone and the response will, possibly, be negative.
I can well imagine what’s in store for Europe should this proposal go ahead.
If they try to take over the Starlink frequencies they will find problems with that.
They cant take the frequencies away from Startlinks transmitters. So all Starlink needs to do is overpower their transmissions which would be easy with far more sats. And that is not even trying to scramble Europe’s transmissions
Plus Starlink could argue precedent and already invested satellites. First come first served, first ownership of the frequencies used in Europe. I am sure something along those lines is included in the EU agreement.