The European Commission’s proposal to re-authorize the 2 GHz Mobile Satellite Services band beyond 2027 comes at a time when satellite connectivity is increasingly shaped by geopolitical considerations as much as technical or commercial ones. As Europe deepens its focus on resilience, defense readiness, and digital sovereignty, spectrum policy is a trade-off Europe can’t avoid.
The 2 GHz band is part of that shift. The proposal reflects this broader context, where spectrum is an input into how secure and autonomous connectivity ecosystems are structured.
The proposal would replace the current MSS regime with a Union-level selection and authorization framework for the 2 GHz band once the existing rights expire in 2027. The Commission would run a comparative selection procedure and grant successful applicants rights of use that apply across all Member States under a common set of conditions. The rights would be awarded for a period of 20 years and accompanied by both a one-off financial contribution and annual fees, with the Commission assuming a central role in oversight, enforcement, and ongoing compliance.
The spectrum itself would be divided into three distinct blocks. One-third would be reserved for a secure MSS or hybrid system intended to support governmental users and secure communications requirements, including future integration with the EU’s wider secure connectivity ecosystem.
The remaining two-thirds would be allocated to commercial services. Half of that commercial allocation would be reserved for new EU entrants, reflecting the Commission’s objective of promoting supplier diversification and strengthening European capabilities in the sector. The final third would be open to competition between both EU and non-EU operators.
Selection would not be based solely on financial bids. Applicants would be assessed against a broad set of criteria covering technical capability, operational readiness, financial resources, implementation plans, and compliance.
This proposal does not come in a vacuum. The current framework dates back to 2008, when the European Union established a common procedure for selecting operators to use the harmonized 2 GHz MSS band across the bloc. Following a competitive selection process in 2009, the Commission designated Inmarsat Ventures and Solaris Mobile as the two operators eligible to provide pan-European MSS services.
Over time, however, the market evolved. Solaris Mobile was acquired by EchoStar in 2014, while Inmarsat subsequently became part of Viasat. More recently, the strategic importance of the 2 GHz MSS ecosystem has been underscored by spectrum realignments outside Europe. The evolving arrangement between SpaceX and EchoStar over S-band spectrum is a clear example.
Nor is the Commission’s latest proposal a sudden policy shift. Discussions regarding the future of the band have been underway for several years as policymakers, regulators, and industry participants grappled with a fundamentally different satellite market than the one that existed when the original framework was adopted. The process included studies, extensive stakeholder consultations, and successive opinions from the Radio Spectrum Policy Group examining the future role of the 2 GHz band in an increasingly strategic connectivity environment.
At a time when transatlantic technology and security relations are being recalibrated, the EU’s 2 GHz proposal goes beyond routine regulatory renewal and reflects a deliberate push to strengthen strategic autonomy.
The proposal aligns with the Digital Networks Act agenda, which aims to harmonies digital infrastructure governance across the EU. As discussions on the Act continue among Member States and industry, the 2 GHz regime is likely to evolve alongside wider debates on the extent of EU coordination in strategic digital infrastructure.
The geopolitical dimension of the proposal reflects a systemic shift in European industrial policy toward retaining control over critical connectivity assets and reducing structural dependence on non-EU systems. The inclusion of secure governmental capabilities within the 2 GHz framework, closely linked to the IRIS² initiative embeds a preference for controllable, EU-aligned capability at the architecture level of future satellite networks.
Europe’s experience during the Ukraine invasion showed that access to foreign-controlled space and communications infrastructure cannot be taken for granted in a crisis, pushing the EU to keep critical connectivity under its own oversight. This reinforces a shift toward tighter scrutiny of strategic assets and deals, but also creates a trade-off. Favoring EU‑aligned systems may reduce dependency while leaving Europe reliant on platforms that lag behind the most advanced non‑European capabilities.
This gap is especially relevant in the near and medium term. Initiatives such as IRIS² are intended to strengthen Europe’s sovereign space communications capacity, but many of their anticipated capabilities will take years to become fully operational. By contrast, existing American satellite systems already provide mature, large-scale services that can be deployed and utilized today.
The challenge for policymakers will therefore be to balance the long-term objective of technological sovereignty with the short-term need to ensure that European users, governments, and industries are not disadvantaged by reduced access to the most advanced capabilities currently available on the global market.
Taken together, the 2 GHz proposal can be seen as a test case for how Europe is approaching the intersection of satellite connectivity, industrial policy, and strategic autonomy. A parallel question is how U.S. stakeholders interpret and respond to a model that increasingly embeds sovereignty considerations into spectrum governance.
The central challenge will be how to translate a high-level strategic framework into a workable operational regime. Europe is effectively rewriting the rules of market access in satellite communications, and others will have to decide how to respond.
Juan Cacace is Director, Space & Connectivity for Access Partnership, executing engagement strategy with governments, multilateral organizations, and businesses around the world.
Álvaro Ovejero is Associate Director of Space and Satellite Policy for Access Partnership. He previously worked in the public sector in Argentina, both at the sub-national and federal levels.
