Europe’s biggest mobile operators in talks for satellite-to-mobile venture, Bloomberg News reports - AOL

Updated Mon, September 7, 2026 at 3:18 PM EDT

Sept 7 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone Group and Telefonica are in early talks to create a consortium to bid on European Union satellite spectrum and offer direct-to-mobile services, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The group would jointly bid for a share of 2 gigahertz airwaves that the EU has proposed reserving for a local operator, a plan aimed at increasing sovereign satellite capabilities, the report added.

No final decisions on the consortium or plans to bid have been made, Bloomberg said.

Vodafone, Orange, and Telefonica declined to comment, while Deutsche Telekom did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In May, the European Union announced plans to allocate the bulk of valuable satellite spectrum for mobile phone service to European companies while reducing the share that U.S. operators can acquire, in a push to promote domestic businesses and reduce reliance on Big Tech.

The European Commission designated two-thirds of the spectrum on the bloc's IRIS² multi-orbit array of 290 satellites for commercial use, divided equally between EU and non-EU operators.

The consortium would bid on the EU operator portion.

IRIS² is Europe's response to Starlink, and is led by the European Commission and a consortium made up of SES SA, Eutelsat and HispaSat.

(Reporting by Natalia Bueno Rebolledo in Mexico City; Editing by Jan Harvey and Cynthia Osterman)

By Florence Loeve

Updated Thu, September 10, 2026 at 10:55 AM EDT

By Florence Loeve

PARIS, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Europe must ensure its countries' competing satellite programmes can work together effectively and do not duplicate each other, European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher said on Thursday.

He was speaking at a space summit in Paris, where new contracts for the European Union's IRIS² planned communications constellation were announced, bolstering efforts to create an alternative to non-European actors, most notably Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Referring to separate national programmes, Aschbacher told Reuters on the sidelines of the summit that it was important to avoid them becoming silos.

"If we are able to connect them, then it is actually a very powerful system," he said. "Under the condition that interoperability is implemented and is materialised. And this, of course, has yet to be done."

IRIS²'s rollout includes initial launches in 2029.

Germany's pursuit of a separate national military satellite network has added to concerns about fragmentation of European efforts and rising costs.

Aschbacher said the European Space Agency, which has a central role in IRIS²'s implementation, has held technical meetings with industry players to define requirements for interoperability.

FRANCO-ITALIAN JOINT VENTURE'S DEAL

On the second and final day of the French-hosted summit, Thales Alenia Space said it had signed an agreement with satellite operator Eutelsat to supply government payloads for 330 of IRIS²'s low-Earth-orbit satellites, while Airbus said it would build the first layer composed of at least 66 satellites.

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between France's Thales and Italy's Leonardo, said the order made up around €500 million ($582 million) of a broader IRIS² contract expected to exceed €3 billion.

Aschbacher also said he was encouraged by strong political support from member states for plans that could eventually allow Europe to launch its own astronauts rather than relying on U.S. spacecraft.

In a proposal published during the summit, he called for investment of €1 billion a year for 10 years starting in 2029 to strengthen European autonomy in the space sector. A decision on whether to approve the proposal would be taken in 2028, in line with ESA procedures.

French President Emmanuel Macron used the summit to call for greater European coordination and for European governments to direct public procurement at European companies.

He said, however, that need not rule out partnerships with foreign companies, including U.S. firms.

(Additional reporting by Makini Brice; Writing by Florence Loève and Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Barbara Lewis)

By Terje Solsvik

Updated Sun, September 6, 2026 at 6:27 AM EDT

By Terje Solsvik

OSLO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - German startup Isar Aerospace on Sunday said it would rapidly expand satellite deployments after the first orbital launch of its Spectrum rocket from Arctic Norway, a milestone for Europe's efforts to secure independent access to space.

The uncrewed Spectrum became the first commercial rocket to reach orbit from continental Europe, marking a breakthrough for a region where several countries are seeking a foothold in the fast-growing market for satellite launches.

"Launch capability is right now the biggest bottleneck in the entire industry," Isar co-founder and CEO Daniel Metzler told reporters.

He said privately owned Isar remains well-funded and that an initial public offering "is not on the table".

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed Saturday's launch in a statement, calling it "the beginning of a new era".

Merz visited Isar's launch site in March, underscoring Europe's efforts to establish greater autonomy as the global order once championed by the United States is shifting under U.S. President Donald Trump.

SECURITY IN 'TURBULENT TIMES'

Blasting off from Norway's Arctic Andoeya Spaceport, Spectrum carried five small satellites along with an in-flight technology experiment, according to Isar. The rocket is designed to serve the growing market for small and medium-sized payloads.

"Europe's independent access to space just got a major boost," EU Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius wrote on social media platform X.

It was Isar's second launch, coming 18 months after the company's first rocket plunged into the sea and exploded in a fiery spectacle shortly after takeoff from the same site. No one was injured.

Isar said it already has five more rockets in production and is now focused on scaling up operations to meet rising demand, with a long-term goal of conducting around 40 launches a year.

The German company is developing a second launch site in Nova Scotia in eastern Canada, and said on Sunday this could be ready for lift-offs in 2028.

Saturday's launch was intended as "both the vehicle's qualification mission and its first flight carrying payload," the Bavarian company said.

"The fact that we can now launch satellites from Andoeya strengthens Norwegian and European security in the turbulent times we live in," said Norway's minister of industry and commerce, Cecilie Myrseth.

Global players in the satellite launch market include Elon Musk's SpaceX, which launches from the United States, and French ArianeGroup, a joint venture between Airbus and Safran that uses a spaceport in South America's French Guiana.

SpaceX, a company spanning rockets, satellites and AI, in June listed on the Nasdaq exchange in a record initial public offering.

Sweden, with its Esrange launch site, and Britain with its SaxaVord Spaceport in the Scottish Shetland Islands, are the nearest rivals to the Norwegian site, all of which aim to give Europe greater autonomy in space flights.

Isar last week said it had secured about €200 million ($232 million) from the European Space Agency to help fund development of new rockets and expand its testing and launch infrastructure.

($1 = 0.8611 euro)

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo, additional reporting by Miranda Murray in Berlin; Editing by Gwladys Fouche, Franklin Paul, Matthew Lewis, Ros Russell)