Europe's telecom giants chase satellite sovereignty without a fleet

On October 19, 2026, four telecom operators—Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone—signed a letter of intent to explore a joint bid for European satellite spectrum that would let mobile phones connect to satellites without a proprietary system. The operators would maintain ground infrastructure, network coordination and monitoring in Europe, while an outside partner would supply spacecraft; no license has been issued for the project and no satellite partner is named. Other mobile operators would receive open, non-discriminatory access to direct-to-device services, and existing partnerships, including Vodafone’s, would remain. The 2 GHz rights held by Viasat and EchoStar since 2009 expire in May 2027, and the European Commission proposed EU-wide licensing rules on May 27, 2026 for a 2 × 30 MHz band.