Starlink alternative: Brussels dismisses Habeck's critique of EU plan

Brussels circles are astonished and disgruntled at the proposal by German Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) to postpone the launch of the EU's planned satellite constellation for high-availability broadband internet at the last minute and go back to the drawing board. The initiative from Germany is "unfounded" and "pure lobbying tactics", the online portal Politico quotes an unnamed EU official. Industry lobbying positions are not taken for granted in Brussels just because a member state represents them. However, the rejection of the criticism is not unanimous. "The Germans are right on one point," said a space diplomat from an EU country. The fact that the EU Commission only wants to make progress with an industrial consortium is probably not the yellow of the egg.

The aim of the "Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security through Satellites" (IRIS2), which was approved by the EU Council of Ministers over a year ago, is to contribute to "seamless digital communication" worldwide. At the same time, the EU wants to use the system to become independent of purely private alternatives such as Starlink from Elon Musk's US company SpaceX, Amazon's Kuiper project or OneWeb. The Commission initially estimated the costs at around six billion euros. A total of 2.4 billion euros would be available as public funding, which would come from the EU space program, Horizon Europe and other funding pots, among other sources, it was announced last year. The remaining 3.6 billion euros would come from the private sector.

Industry offer with "exorbitant price" delayed

A consortium of European space and telecommunications companies under the leadership of Airbus, which also includes Eutelsat, Hispasat, SES, Thales, Deutsche Telekom and its French counterpart Orange, as well as OHB from Bremen, is planning to launch IRIS2. Instead of over 6 billion euros, this SpaceRise alliance has now estimated a price tag of almost 12 billion euros to get the network up and running with up to 170 satellites between 2025 and 2027. This increase, which would almost double the costs, was one of the reasons for Habeck's intervention. The price was "exorbitant" and the entire initiative was "half-baked", the minister wrote in a letter to EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton at the beginning of April, according to a report in Handelsblatt.

There was too much at stake "to make hasty decisions with high-risk and massive negative consequences for IRIS2 and the EU space program", Habeck continued. He made it clear: "Germany stands behind the establishment of a secure, space-based EU communication system." However, a new start was needed to put the program on a solid footing. Another cause for concern: in January, Breton promised to sign "the biggest space treaty in the history of the EU" by the end of March to get IRIS2 up and running. However, this did not happen, as the final offer from SpaceRise only arrived in Brussels on March 1. The proposal is currently being examined by the EU's Procurement Committee. According to reports, current discussions with the consortium are aimed at improving the industry's offer.

(nie)