Weekly Wrap: Doubts bubble to surface at EU Space Forum

Sovereignty, defence, competition and the transatlantic alliance were recurring themes across ten panel discussions and several keynote speeches at the EU Space Forum. Topics covered included the EU Space Act, next-generation satellites, space diplomacy and Europe’s PNT network (positioning, navigation and timing).

The tagline for this year’s event was “Urgency and Ambition: Europe at a Crossroads”. It was not difficult to understand why.

As several panellists made clear, satellite technology is essential to modern warfare. The key role played by Elon Musk’s Starlink service in the Ukraine war is well known.

However, Europe is not content to rely solely on US tech, as illustrated by the recent European Commission decision to divide the 2 GHz MSSMobile-satellite service (MSS) describes a… band into thirds, with two of those blocks only available to European businesses.

Should Europe be hurtling towards a sovereign LEONGSO, or non-geostationary satellite orbit… (low Earth orbit) service when Starlink is available? There was no obvious answer at the event, with many speakers supporting and criticising the Commission’s decision.

Some noted that the US government might retaliate if it felt moves were being made to restrict the opportunities available to US companies.

Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of satellite operator SES, called on attendees “not to ignore the global standards that we are working with”. Similar points have been made by both Amazon and SpaceX in recent months.

At a panel focused on “secure connectivity in Europe”, attendees were asked to raise their hands if they believed that Iris² – an unbuilt EU satellite constellation to deliver secure communication for governments – would be working by 2030.

Perhaps three out of more than a hundred attendees raised their hands. This pessimism was not a defining feature of this year’s forum, but uncertainty over whether the EU can follow through on its satellite proposals most definitely was.

Here is what else PolicyTracker reported on this week:

• Europeans in the US for the World Cup could face difficulties trying to make emergency calls
• Grameenphone in Bangladesh has started using the 700 MHz band for 5G, while a rival has acquired 700 MHz spectrum
• The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance is proposing to add new use cases in the lower 6 GHz band to allow Wi-Fi use in near-enclosed spaces like stadiums and cruise ships
• The Czech regulator is expecting interest in the newly-released 26 GHz band for local networks and fixed wireless access
• The EU is set to block additional IMTInternational Mobile Telecommunications (I… identification at WRC-27The World Radiocommunication Conference (W…