EU member states will have to re-run the process for choosing which satellite operators can use the bloc’s 2 Gigahertz (GHz) mobile satellite services band after current EU-wide licences expire in May 2027, European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen said.
The 2 GHz band is used to support satellite and terrestrial connectivity directly to mobile devices, including voice and internet access in areas where ground-based networks are unavailable, the Commission VP noted in a statement on Wednesday.
Virkkunen emphasised that the Commission is proposing an EU-level selection procedure for assigning the spectrum, creating what she described as “one single secure satellite system” for both governmental and commercial use.
How the spectrum would be split
Under the proposal, one third of the 2 GHz band would be reserved for governmental use — including critical communications, security and military services — and would have to be provided by an EU operator, the Commission VP said.
The selected operator would also ensure future integration with IRIS², the EU’s planned satellite communications infrastructure, Virkkunen added.
The remaining two thirds would be reserved for commercial use, with examples including in-flight connectivity for airline customers, personal fitness trackers, energy monitoring, and emergency response devices.
That commercial portion would be split equally, with one third reserved for EU operators entering the market and the other third open to both EU and non-EU operators.
EU member states first gave the Commission the power to license the specific satellite spectrum band for the whole EU in 2008, creating a single EU-wide authorisation for 18 years.
