US Warns Europe of “Devastating” Retaliation Over Starlink Curbs

Image: Starlink

The U.S. ambassador to the EU is warning that European companies face “devastating” retaliation if Brussels restricts SpaceX’s Starlink from a key slice of satellite spectrum. That’s according to the Financial Times, which reported that Andrew Puzder said Washington would hit back if the EU presses ahead with plans to restrict American rivals such as SpaceX from parts of the European market. The warning is Puzder’s, and we haven’t seen any specifics on what the retaliation would involve.

Puzder argued that weakening U.S. companies would not make European companies more competitive. He said Europe has a right to protect sensitive government information, but that it shouldn’t use legislation to favor domestic firms and hold back American rivals. The ambassador also said he doesn’t see undermining U.S. competitiveness as a legitimate goal for that kind of law.

The fight is over the 2 GHz mobile-satellite band, the spectrum that lets satellites connect straight to ordinary phones. The European Commission said in May that most of the band would be reserved for European operators when the current licenses, held by U.S. companies Viasat and EchoStar since 2009, expire in 2027. The plan splits the band into three 10 MHz blocks for 20 years: one for secure government communications, including IRIS², the EU’s planned satellite constellation, one for European startups, and a third that could go to European or non-European companies. That would leave American firms like SpaceX competing for, at most, that one block.

That band matters because Starlink Mobile, the direct-to-cell side of Starlink, is being built around 2 GHz. This month the FCC cleared 15,000 next-generation Starlink Mobile satellites, and regulators in Brazil approved full 2 GHz access, which Starlink described as coming with “global S-band priority.” In Europe, Deutsche Telekom has said its planned satellite-to-mobile service with Starlink will run on Starlink’s mobile satellite spectrum, with a rollout targeted for 2028.

Nothing is final on the European side. The Commission’s proposal still has to be negotiated by the European Parliament and EU governments, and the current licenses could be extended by up to two years. Washington has also made similar threats before: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said earlier this year that the U.S. would “mirror the regulatory approach that Europe wants to take” and could push European satellite operators out of the American market.

Should Europe reserve its satellite spectrum for its own companies, or would that leave phone users with fewer choices?