--- title: Europe’s top carriers in talks to take on Starlink,... description: Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica are reportedly in early talks to form a consortium bidding for a reserved third of the EU's 2 GHz mobile... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/europe-s-top-carriers-in-talks-to-take-on-starlink-bloomberg-reports-wz9xlp78y twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Europe’s top carriers in talks to take on Starlink, Bloomberg reports | daily.dev og:description: Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica are reportedly in early talks to form a consortium bidding for a reserved third of the EU's 2 GHz mobile... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/europe-s-top-carriers-in-talks-to-take-on-starlink-bloomberg-reports-wz9xlp78y og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/WZ9xLP78Y.png og:image:alt: Europe’s top carriers in talks to take on Starlink, Bloomberg reports og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Europe’s top carriers in talks to take on Starlink, Bloomberg reports **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica are reportedly in early talks to form a consortium bidding for a reserved third of the EU's 2 GHz mobile satellite spectrum, positioning themselves to compete with or gatekeep Starlink's direct-to-device service in Europe. The European Commission proposed splitting the band three ways: one third for a majority European-controlled operator, one third for sovereign IRIS² services, and one third open to anyone including SpaceX and Amazon. Current licences held by Viasat and EchoStar expire May 2027. Complications include Deutsche Telekom's existing Starlink partnership and Vodafone's joint venture with AST SpaceMobile, which would need restructuring to qualify as European-controlled. IRIS² won't offer direct-to-mobile service until 2029, meaning a European consortium could hold spectrum rights years before having its own satellites to use them. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What are Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica reportedly planning together on satellite spectrum? They are in early talks to form a consortium to jointly bid for a reserved third of the EU's 2 GHz mobile satellite services spectrum, which would let them offer calls, texts and data directly to ordinary phones from orbit and compete with or control Starlink's access to the European market. No decision on the consortium or a bid has been made, and all four operators declined to comment. _Anyone tracking satellite connectivity and telecom regulation follows how spectrum battles like this play out on daily.dev._ ### How is the EU planning to split the 2 GHz mobile satellite spectrum among Starlink and European operators? The European Commission proposed splitting the 30 MHz band in three: one third reserved for a company under majority European control, one third for sovereign government services via the IRIS² constellation, and the final third open to anyone including SpaceX and Amazon. Current licenses held by Viasat and EchoStar since 2009 expire in May 2027, and the proposal still needs approval from Parliament and Council. _Developers and analysts weighing satellite connectivity options can follow spectrum policy shifts like this on daily.dev._ ### Why would Vodafone need to restructure its joint venture with AST SpaceMobile to bid for EU satellite spectrum? Vodafone owns half of a joint venture with AST SpaceMobile, a Texas-based company, and under the European Commission's proposal that 50/50 structure would not qualify as European-controlled. Vodafone would have to change the ownership structure to be eligible to bid as part of the four-carrier consortium seeking Europe's reserved third of the 2 GHz spectrum band. _Those following how ownership rules reshape satellite and telecom partnerships can track it on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Brussels plans to ringfence two-thirds of EU mobile-satellite spectrum for European firms](https://daily.dev/posts/brussels-plans-to-ringfence-two-thirds-of-eu-mobile-satellite-spectrum-for-european-firms-9av4mcpnm) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Starlink wants to be your next mobile operator](https://daily.dev/posts/starlink-wants-to-be-your-next-mobile-operator-lrwzemhn6) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [South Africa’s broadband future is being decided in orbit, not in Pretoria](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-broadband-future-is-being-decided-in-orbit-not-in-pretoria-w0ptcxebq) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Starlink lines up a frontal assault on mobile operators](https://daily.dev/posts/starlink-lines-up-a-frontal-assault-on-mobile-operators-cj0ofkema) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking), [#spacex](https://daily.dev/tags/spacex) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/europe-s-top-carriers-in-talks-to-take-on-starlink-bloomberg-reports-wz9xlp78y) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Europe’s top carriers in talks to take on Starlink, Bloomberg reports","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/europe-s-top-carriers-in-talks-to-take-on-starlink-bloomberg-reports-wz9xlp78y","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/europe-s-top-carriers-in-talks-to-take-on-starlink-bloomberg-reports-wz9xlp78y"},"datePublished":"2026-09-07T22:58:43.254Z","dateModified":"2026-09-08T00:05:56.056Z","description":"Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica are reportedly in early talks to form a consortium bidding for a reserved third of the EU's 2 GHz mobile...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/228877bd6cf1e2309ce224def335fd04?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/228877bd6cf1e2309ce224def335fd04?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":1,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/europe-s-top-carriers-in-talks-to-take-on-starlink-bloomberg-reports-wz9xlp78y","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"keywords":"networking,spacex","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Europe’s top carriers in talks to take on Starlink, Bloomberg reports"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/europe-s-top-carriers-in-talks-to-take-on-starlink-bloomberg-reports-wz9xlp78y#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What are Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefónica reportedly planning together on satellite spectrum?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"They are in early talks to form a consortium to jointly bid for a reserved third of the EU's 2 GHz mobile satellite services spectrum, which would let them offer calls, texts and data directly to ordinary phones from orbit and compete with or control Starlink's access to the European market. 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