Europe’s major satellite players line up to build Starlink competitor
Enlarge / EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton wants Europe to have its own secure satellite communications network. (credit: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
A consortium of nearly every major European satellite company announced Tuesday that it plans to bid for a proposed satellite constellation to provide global communications. Essentially, such a constellation would provide the European Union with connectivity from low-Earth orbit similar to what SpaceX's Starlink offers.
The bid, which includes large players such as Airbus Defence and Space, Eutelsat, SES, and Thales Alenia Space, comes in response to a request by the European Union for help in constructing a sovereign constellation to provide secure communications for government services, including military applications.
European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton announced the continent's plans for this constellation-known as Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite, or IRIS^2-last November. The European Union will provide 2.4 billion euro, with additional contributions expected from the European Space Agency and private investments.