European Telecoms Hold Early Talks on Satellite Spectrum Consortium

According to Wallstreetcn, Europe’s largest mobile operators are in early talks to form a consortium to bid for satellite spectrum and offer direct-to-phone services to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink in Europe. Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone, and Telefónica would jointly bid for the portion of spectrum the European Union has proposed reserving for domestic operators, a plan aimed at boosting Europe’s sovereign satellite capabilities, while no final decision has been made on the consortium or the bidding plan and any satellite operator would need to be controlled by a European company under the EU proposal.