// THE VERGE — MOBILE & WEB
Major European mobile carriers are teaming up for a ‘direct’ satellite program without Starlink
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
It will also need to find a satellite constellation to rival SpaceX’s.
It will also need to find a satellite constellation to rival SpaceX’s.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone signed a letter of intent saying they’re considering a joint bid for spectrum that would support European direct-to-device satellite competition for SpaceX’s Starlink. The four telecom companies say they would handle the ground infrastructure while a separate, unannounced satellite partner provides the satellite constellation:
The joint initiative by Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone has a clear ambition: to meet customer demand for universal coverage in underserved areas, strengthen the resilience of public networks, protect critical communications, and support the development of a European constellation.
As part of the project, the four operators plan to establish key ground network infrastructure as well as critical coordination and monitoring functions in Europe, without investing directly in a satellite constellation. This will be provided by a satellite partner still to be selected.