On Monday, Europe’s four biggest phone companies did something they almost never do. Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone, rivals in most of the markets they share, signed a joint letter of intent to bid together for the airwaves that will carry satellite service straight to ordinary smartphones across Europe.
Headlines called it a European answer to Starlink. That is half right. The four carriers want to control the spectrum, the ground stations and the customer relationship. What they do not want to do is build or launch a single satellite. That job goes to a partner they have not picked yet. And the whole plan hinges on a band of spectrum that will not be handed out until 2029.
What the four carriers actually signed
The joint statement is short and carefully worded. The operators say they will “explore a potential joint bid for the future allocation of spectrum for Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) in Europe.” That is explore, not commit. A letter of intent is a handshake on paper, and nothing in it obliges anyone to write a check.
Still, the outline of the plan is clear:
- Spectrum: a joint bid for part of the 2 GHz satellite band that the European Union is about to reallocate.
- Ground network: the four would build “key ground network infrastructure” plus coordination and monitoring functions inside Europe.
- Satellites: provided by “a satellite partner still to be selected.” The carriers say they will not invest directly in a constellation.
- Open access: any mobile operator in Europe, not only the four founders, would get “open and non-discriminatory access” to offer D2D service to its own customers.
- Existing deals: the letter “does not replace existing satellite partnerships.”
The stated goals read like a list of European policy priorities: universal coverage in underserved areas, more resilient public networks, protection for critical communications, and support for “the development of a European constellation.” The wording lines up closely with what the European Commission has been asking for since May.
Why the 2 GHz band is the whole game
Satellite-to-phone service needs radio spectrum, and good spectrum for it is scarce. The 2 GHz MSS band, roughly 1980 to 2010 MHz and 2170 to 2200 MHz, is one of the few slices already set aside for mobile satellite use across the entire EU. Today, two companies hold the rights: Viasat, which uses it for the European Aviation Network that powers in-flight Wi-Fi, and EchoStar.
Those licenses expire in May 2027. The Commission has proposed letting the current holders extend for two years on request, without expanding what they can do or transfer. Then, around 2029, the band gets handed out again under brand new EU-level rules.
Those rules are the reason this letter exists. On May 27, 2026, the Commission proposed a regulation that splits the band in a way that openly favors European players.
Read the split closely and the carriers’ move makes sense. Non-EU companies such as SpaceX and Amazon can win at most a third of the band. Another third is reserved for EU operators entering the market. A bid backed by four European telecom giants, with European ground stations and European governance, fits that reserved slot almost perfectly. Selection is planned as a comparative process rather than a pure auction, which rewards exactly the kind of pan-European, open-access pitch the four are now making.
SpaceX is not thrilled. It has criticized the proposal publicly, and its position got more complicated when it agreed to buy EchoStar’s spectrum: even though EchoStar’s European license is part of that deal, SpaceX would still need to apply for a new license under the Commission’s rules.
The satellite problem nobody has solved
Here is the part the “European Starlink” headlines skip. Spectrum and ground stations are useless without satellites overhead, and Europe does not have a D2D constellation in orbit. The carriers are explicitly not building one. So who flies the satellites?
The obvious European candidate is IRIS², the EU’s own secure connectivity constellation, but it is aimed at government broadband and is not expected to be fully operational until the 2030s. The commercial players that can actually beam signals to unmodified phones today are mostly American: SpaceX with Starlink Direct to Cell, AST SpaceMobile with its giant BlueBird satellites, and Lynk. Amazon is moving in too, with its Leo network and the Globalstar acquisition it plans to complete.
German outlet heise notes that Starlink is unlikely to be chosen, because the whole point of the initiative is European sovereignty. That leaves AST SpaceMobile, which already works with three of the four carriers, as the most plausible front runner, though it is a US company too. The Commission’s rules care about who holds the license and governs the network, not only who built the hardware, which is why a European operator wrapper around foreign satellites might still qualify.
The sovereignty argument is not abstract. Europe has watched SpaceX make unilateral decisions about where Starlink works, most recently with the speed caps that cut Starlink off for Ukrainian drones. Governments do not want emergency calls in the Alps to depend on a company that can change the rules overnight.
Every carrier already has a satellite partner
The letter is unusual because all four companies already picked sides in the D2D race, and not the same side. That is why the “does not replace existing partnerships” line matters.
| Carrier | Current satellite partner | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Deutsche Telekom | SpaceX Starlink Mobile, Iridium (IoT) | Starlink D2D in German dead zones planned from around 2028, announced at MWC 2026 |
| Vodafone | AST SpaceMobile via Satellite Connect Europe | Joint venture launched Feb 2026, five European ground stations under way |
| Orange | AST SpaceMobile and Satellite Connect Europe | Satellite SMS live in France since Dec 2025, D2D demos in Romania in H2 2026 |
| Telefónica | AST SpaceMobile, OQ Technology (O2 Germany) | O2 Telefónica tests in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from early 2027 |
So Deutsche Telekom is in bed with Starlink, three of the four work with AST, and Telefónica’s German arm has also signed with Luxembourg’s OQ Technology. The joint bid is less a replacement for these deals than a long-term hedge: whoever ends up flying the satellites, the carriers want the license and the customer relationship to stay in European hands.
How big the coverage gap really is
Europe is not rural America. Coverage is dense, and the remaining gaps are small by land area. But they are stubborn, they tend to sit in mountains, forests and along borders, and they matter most in emergencies. Germany’s Federal Network Agency publishes the numbers, and they show areas where even 2G is unavailable.
Satellite D2D will not replace towers for everyday use. Early services are slow and best suited to texting, messaging apps and emergency calls. But for the last 1% to 2% of a country that no carrier will ever profitably cover with masts, a satellite overhead is the only practical fix.
The road to 2029
The timeline explains why this move happened now, even though no satellite service from this group is coming soon.
Bids for a 2029 assignment have to be shaped years in advance, while the rules are still being written. By signing now, the four carriers put a concrete, Commission-friendly proposal on the table while lawmakers in Brussels debate the regulation. It also sends a message to the European Space Policy Institute and smaller operators, who have warned that a carrier mega-alliance could squeeze everyone else out. The open-access promise is the carriers’ answer to that criticism.
Why US readers should care
If you are in the US, you already live in the market Europe is trying not to become. T-Mobile’s T-Satellite runs on Starlink. AT&T and Verizon have bet on AST SpaceMobile. And SpaceX now wants to be more than a supplier: it has been buying spectrum to become a carrier in its own right, as we covered when SpaceX bought 800 MHz airwaves and started calling itself a carrier.
Europe’s approach flips that model. Instead of each carrier renting capacity from a satellite giant that might one day compete with it, the carriers pool their customers and spectrum and treat the satellite company as a contractor. If it works, it could become a template that carriers elsewhere point to when negotiating with SpaceX. If it fails, it will be because a letter of intent never turned into a constellation.
There is also a practical travel angle. Today, satellite texting on your phone depends on whether your home carrier has a roaming deal with a satellite partner abroad. A single, open European D2D network would, in theory, make it easier for any carrier, including US ones, to sign one roaming agreement that covers the whole continent.
FAQ
Is Europe building its own Starlink?
Not exactly. The four carriers plan to bid for spectrum and build ground infrastructure, but they say they will not invest directly in a satellite constellation. A satellite partner, still to be selected, would provide the satellites.
When could this satellite service launch?
Not before the 2 GHz band is reassigned, which is expected around 2029. Before that, carriers rely on existing partners, such as Starlink for Deutsche Telekom from around 2028 and AST SpaceMobile for Vodafone and Orange.
Will my current phone work with satellite direct-to-device?
D2D is designed to work with standard smartphones, but support depends on the phone model, its radio bands and carrier software. Many recent iPhone and Galaxy models already support satellite messaging. Coverage in Europe will depend on your carrier’s partner.
Why is the EU limiting non-EU satellite operators?
The Commission wants European control over critical communications infrastructure for security and resilience reasons. Its proposal reserves one third of the band for government use and caps non-EU operators at one third overall.
Does this affect T-Mobile’s satellite service in the US?
No. T-Mobile’s T-Satellite runs on Starlink using US spectrum. The European plan only covers spectrum within the EU, although it could shape future roaming deals for travelers.
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