Four of Europe’s top mobile network operators confirmed they are working together on a plan for mobile satellite service (MSS) spectrum in Europe, announcing a letter of intent on Monday.
Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone said they are considering a potential joint bid for MSS spectrum allocation in Europe. The European Commission is in the process of deciding what companies will be authorized to operate in the 2 GHz MSS spectrum in the future, with plans to reserve a portion of the spectrum for European entities.
The letter of intent is not a firm plan but a formal confirmation from the four MNOs they are working together. During World Space Business Week, a Telefonica exec confirmed there was a group studying the issue.
The MNOs said a priority would be to ensure “responsible European governance” of this space infrastructure and give MNOs open access to offering D2D to their customers, while fostering competition.
It states the satellite portion would be provided by “a satellite partner still to be selected,” without the MNOs investing directly in the constellation.
“By combining the operators’ extensive customer reach, network capabilities and operational expertise, the initiative could accelerate market deployment, enable efficient use of spectrum and facilitate the seamless integration of satellite connectivity into existing mobile networks,” the MNOs said in a statement.
While this collaboration is specific to the upcoming European MSS decision, top U.S. telcos are taking a similar approach. Earlier this month, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon established a joint venture focused on D2D services, calling for competition among satellite providers and a standards-based approach to device compatibility.
SpaceX’s large and growing position in D2D connectivity is likely motivating the MNO collaborations in both cases. SpaceX has made it clear it intends to compete directly with the top MNOs in the U.S. And SpaceX now owns EchoStar’s spectrum that is currently one of the MSS license-holders in Europe.
Luke Kehoe, lead industry analyst at Ookla, commented that SpaceX has put MNOs in a defensive position.
“Europe’s operators want to avoid becoming effectively MVNOs [mobile virtual network operators] for satellite coverage, selling somebody else’s service on somebody else’s terms. Starlink’s push into the U.S. mobile market makes that concern harder to ignore and has launched MNOs into a defensive posture. Securing MSS spectrum would give them a stronger hand in negotiations,” Kehoe said.
The European MNOs said this letter of intent does not replace their existing satellite partnerships — and all take a different approach to satellite partnerships today.
Germany’s Deutsche Telekom was the first partner to sign on for SpaceX’s upcoming second-generation Starlink Mobile service. Orange offers SMS by satellite in Europe through a partnership with Skylo, but the service is only available on select devices.
Vodafone is a longtime partner and investor in AST SpaceMobile, and has a commercial agreement in place with the satellite operator, as well as a joint venture, Satellite Connect Europe.
AST SpaceMobile said it “welcomes” the letter of intent, calling it an “important step” for Europe in a statement.
As European MNOs look at working together on D2D, one think tank recently argued that alliance may not be enough to ensure European sovereignty. The European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) argued in a policy brief last week that Europe needs to take a full-stack approach to building a truly European service. ESPI argued for “at minimum” a team of all European mobile network operators (MNOs), satellite operators, and spacecraft manufacturers to avoid a “quasi-sovereign outcome.”
Ookla analyst Kehoe agreed that there’s more to sovereignty than who holds the spectrum authorization.
“The sovereignty claim will also be tested in the satellite contract itself. European spectrum rights and ground infrastructure only go so far when a separate partner controls the constellation,” he said. “Many will highlight that sovereignty should not become a license to protect incumbents from competition, so Brussels is increasingly being forced to walk a fine line between the two competing objectives.”
