EU MNO NTN JV?

There’s not much in it yet – merely a statement of intent – but it is interesting nonetheless. And while RCR waits on answers from various parties, it is worth reviewing, and speculating some. Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone are considering a joint bid for European mobile satellite (MSS) spectrum, promising open access for operators and European control of key infrastructure. How much is it about competition and choice? How much is it about sovereignty, capitalizing on strained geo-politics? How much is it about Elon, and the future of telecoms? As is the way, it is about everything all at once – and much more than just rural coverage gaps.

The model looks telling. The four operators say they will build ground infrastructure and manage coordination functions, but leave the satellites to “a satellite partner still to be selected”. Which partner, realistically? Would AST SpaceMobile, say, supply satellite capacity to a European D2D platform organized by the big beasts of European telecoms? Likely, one would think. Would Starlink? Hmm; not sure second fiddle is the part Musk wants in his own private space opera – where the old telco fraternity hold the spectrum rights and the commercial access. But Europe is not America, where AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have established a joint venture to do much the same.

Their objective is to coordinate satellite connectivity, pool resources, and tackle dead zones – per the PR messaging. Europe’s initiative carries a more explicit sovereignty argument, legitimized by the EC’s push to reserve future MSS spectrum for European players. Does that preclude Starlink anyway? Existing satellite deals would remain in place, say the Euro set. Neither approach proposes to make terrestrial operators into satellite ones – as SpaceX wants for Starlink in reverse. In both cases, the MNO collectives want a joint position on spectrum and service access without taking on the cost and risk of building a constellation themselves.

In both cases, the sense is they are unwilling to leave the terms of satellite-terrestrial convergence entirely to SpaceX, or other constellation operators. Both groups neatly propose to have their cake and eat it, then – to remain incumbent masters of their own telco destinies, and, in the case of the European lot, to commercialize their ‘trusted’ sovereign positions in the global AI data dissemination game. Fair enough. If satellite is another layer in the mobile connectivity stack, then they should have a say in how it is packaged, priced, and sold. The question is whether collective leverage will be enough to secure that position, or whether the satellite owners will still call the shots.