The European Commission moved to reserve two-thirds of a coveted satellite spectrum band for European operators, a decision that directly threatens SpaceX’s direct-to-device plans and Viasat’s existing European Aviation Network while opening a fresh front in the transatlantic fight over space technology.
The proposal, outlined May 27 by the European Commission, would split the 2 gigahertz mobile satellite band into three equal slices when current licenses come up for renewal. One block goes to a European operator handling government communications integrated into IRIS², the EU’s planned sovereign constellation. A second block is ring-fenced for EU commercial operators entering the market. Only the final third remains open to non-European players.
The math matters. Two of the three blocks would be off-limits to American satellite companies that either already use this spectrum or have built business plans around getting access to it.
What the 2 GHz band actually does
The frequencies in question are not an abstract resource. They are the airwaves that let satellites talk directly to ordinary smartphones and aircraft cabin equipment without specialized hardware. Viasat uses the band for its hybrid satellite-cellular European Aviation Network, which provides in-flight broadband across the continent. EchoStar holds adjacent rights in the region related to potential direct-to-device services in Europe, and those rights are part of the spectrum bundle SpaceX has been working to acquire from EchoStar.
If the Commission’s proposal becomes law, both of those commercial paths get harder. EchoStar’s spectrum holdings lose much of their value if resulting services can only operate within one-third of the band. Viasat faces uncertainty about whether its existing service can continue under renewed terms designed for European operators, though the current proposal includes a transitional extension of existing licenses by two years past their May 2027 expiry.
Neither SpaceX nor Viasat responded to requests for comment from SpaceNews. EchoStar declined to comment.
Sovereignty as the stated rationale
Henna Virkkunen, an EU Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, framed the proposal as a resilience measure rather than a protectionist one, telling reporters in Brussels that high-capacity, widely available satellite connectivity is essential to strengthen the resilience of the EU’s communication networks.
Speaking at the press conference, Virkkunen tied the government block explicitly to IRIS², the constellation Europe has been building partly in response to the dominance of Starlink. The bloc has framed IRIS² as a multi-orbit array of roughly 290 satellites that will integrate with the secure government services portion of the 2 GHz allocation.
The political logic is straightforward. Europe has watched a single American company become indispensable to military and civilian connectivity from Ukraine to the Arctic. Reserving spectrum for domestic operators is one of the few regulatory levers Brussels has to ensure that European-flagged alternatives actually have room to grow.
The reciprocity threat
Washington has not been quiet about how it views this kind of policy. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has warned that the United States would mirror Europe’s approach if the EU put restrictions on non-EU companies, framing the issue as one of reciprocity. The FCC opened a public comment period in March on the state of satellite market access and reciprocity in foreign countries.
That posture matters because European satellite operators, including SES, Eutelsat, and the successor entities of Inmarsat, depend heavily on U.S. market access for their commercial businesses. A genuinely reciprocal U.S. response could squeeze European players out of American spectrum auctions or service authorizations, raising the stakes on both sides.
The Commission appears willing to accept that risk. The 2 GHz proposal lands alongside broader EU space policy harmonization efforts that U.S. officials and companies have criticized, including the draft EU Space Act.
Winners inside Europe
The proposal would benefit a small group of European operators positioned to bid for the reserved blocks. Luxembourg-based OQ Technology has advocated for access to the 2 GHz band to provide sovereign direct-to-device services. The IRIS² block would likely go to the consortium building that constellation, which includes major European satellite operators.
The picture is more complicated for AST SpaceMobile. The Texas-based company has registered plans in Germany for a European network through a joint venture with Vodafone. Whether that arrangement counts as sufficiently European to qualify for the reserved commercial block is the kind of question that will occupy lawyers for months. Similar questions could apply to Amazon Leo, the rebranded successor to Project Kuiper, if it seeks access through European partners.
The timing problem for SpaceX
The European move arrives at an awkward moment for SpaceX. The company filed its IPO prospectus on May 20, and the filing showed that the connectivity unit generated $11.39 billion in revenue in 2025, accounting for 61 percent of total sales and the only profitable division. That share rose to 69 percent in the first quarter of 2026, when Starlink alone brought in roughly $3.26 billion. Direct-to-device is the next logical expansion vector for that business.
Europe represents one of the largest addressable markets for D2D services outside the United States and Asia. If two-thirds of the relevant spectrum is closed off, the revenue case for Starlink Mobile in Europe weakens, and so does the strategic value of EchoStar’s spectrum holdings to SpaceX.
The 2 GHz proposal is a concrete example of regulatory risk in practice.
What happens next
The proposal is not law. It needs approval from both the European Parliament and the Council, and lawmakers tend to scrutinize spectrum policy closely. Industry lobbying, from American companies, European incumbents, and aviation customers who depend on Viasat’s existing service, will intensify over the coming months.
There is room for compromise. The Parliament could adjust the size of the blocks, soften the criteria for what counts as a European operator, or add longer transition arrangements for existing license holders like Viasat. Any of those changes would alter the commercial calculus significantly.
The bigger picture is harder to walk back. Europe has made a deliberate choice to use spectrum allocation as an industrial policy tool, betting that the cost of strained relations with Washington is worth paying to keep IRIS² and a handful of European D2D ventures viable. The era when global satellite operators could assume open access to the most valuable frequency bands is ending.
For background on how incumbent satellite providers are positioning themselves against new low-Earth-orbit competitors, see Space Daily’s coverage of how satcom providers are adapting to NGSO-driven capacity growth. Viasat’s current European business is anchored partly by aviation contracts, including the in-flight connectivity services the company has been expanding, and by infrastructure milestones such as the company’s Arctic broadband program.
The 2 GHz fight will not be decided by engineering. It will be decided by which version of sovereignty, American commercial dominance or European regulatory autonomy, wins more votes in Strasbourg next year.
