Starlink Mobile Hits Hungary and Albania in Europe’s First 4iG Deal

Starlink Mobile

Starlink said on September 2 it is expanding Starlink Mobile in Europe with Hungary’s 4iG Group, starting in Hungary and Albania with apps and messaging for people in remote areas, then bringing next-gen V2 high-speed broadband directly to phones in Montenegro and North Macedonia on the same 2 GHz spectrum Starlink uses worldwide.

4iG’s own announcement the same day says the agreements were signed in Bastrop, Texas, by 4iG chairman and CEO Gellért Jászai and SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell, and that this is Europe’s first deal to launch both Starlink Mobile and a separate Sovereign Solutions package for secure national satellite networks. First-generation commercial service is aimed at Hungary and Albania, joining markets where Starlink already talks to ordinary LTE phones with no extra dish, especially in mountains and coastal waters, with the actual start date still hanging on regulators, technical work, and commercial terms in each country. Shotwell said V2 will enable high-speed broadband directly to mobile phones and harmonize the 2 GHz spectrum SpaceX will use around the world, and that the tie-up positions Hungary as an early adopter of Sovereign Solutions for Europe.

David Goldman, adding context after the official post, wrote that partnering with 4iG and DT puts Europeans among the first to use Starlink’s global 2 GHz priority rights running over Starlink Mobile v2 satellites for high-speed broadband to mobiles, and that he can’t wait to partner with more European carriers. 4iG said the later V2 layer, using those same 2 GHz priority rights for 5G non-terrestrial network capability, is planned for Hungary, Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia, while Sovereign Solutions with 4iG Space and Defence is scheduled to launch next year as an integrated secure-data service. Rollout still depends on each market, and Starlink did not put a calendar date on Hungary or Albania going live.