On-Prem

Networks

Europe signs off on €10.6B IRIS² satellite broadband deal

Service promised by 2030 for bloc's take on Starlink


A competitor for Elon Musk's Starlink satellite broadband constellation is on the way after Eurocrats signed the concession contract for the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²).

The earmarked budget for IRIS² is €10.6 billion, with €6.5 billion coming from public funding (including €550 million from ESA’s Partnership Projects). More than €4 billion will be funded by private industry.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the constellation will comprise approximately 300 satellites, spanning across Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). The thinking is that by utilizing both orbits, the constellation will benefit from LEO's low latency and MEO's wider coverage.

SpaceX's Starlink has dealt with the coverage issue by launching thousands of satellites into LEO.

The SpaceRISE industry consortium, led by Eutelsat, Hispasat, and SES, put the number of satellites at 290 and said it expected service to begin in 2030 as part of the 12-year IRIS² contract.

The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) said the constellation was "set to provide secure communication services to the EU and its Member States as well as broadband connectivity for European citizens, private companies and governmental authorities."

It added that IRIS² "will put an end to dead zones in Europe as well as the whole of Africa using the constellation's North-South orbits through a resilient and ultra-secure space and ground-based system."

"Relying on quantum cryptography through the European Quantum Communication Infrastructure (EuroQCI), and enhanced cybersecurity through a secure-by-design approach for the infrastructure, the system will bring an unprecedented security level to its users.

"EUSPA is already actively involved in building secure satellite communication infrastructure for Europe through the coordination of the first phase of GOVSATCOM [Governmental Satellite Communications] on which IRIS² will be based."

The EU has been making noises about building out its own satellite constellation for a few years now, with an estimate of €6 billion made for the system. Two years on, the funding number is considerably higher, and the constellation considerably later.

From 2025, the plan is to make use of existing satellite capacity already owned by member states. According to the EC, "IRIS² full governmental satellite connectivity services based on EU-owned infrastructure will be delivered by 2030."

Eutelsat's participation may raise an eyebrow or two. The business merged with OneWeb in 2022. OneWeb already operates a broadband satellite constellation with more than 630 spacecraft. The Register asked Eutelsat if OneWeb's capabilities or technology would be leveraged for IRIS² and we will update this article should we receive a response.

As for why existing constellations, such as Starlink, could not be used, the EC said, "As global satellite connectivity is rapidly becoming a strategic asset for security, safety and resilience, the EU needs to urgently act in order to ensure guaranteed access in an unrestricted manner without third-party dependencies." ®

Send us news
41 Comments

Amazon's Kuiper secures license to take on Starlink in the UK

Everybody is going to play nice, OK?

Ontario responds to Trump tariff by pitching Starlink deal into the trash

Canadian province 'won't do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy'

Openreach tests 50 Gbps broadband – don’t expect it anytime soon

Download speeds of 41.9 Gbps and upload speeds of 20.6 Gbps achieved, claims BT division

NASA solar mission data recovering after server room flood fiasco

Spacecraft weather solar storms, but ground processing laid low by water

Gilmore Girls fans nabbed as Eurocops dismantle two major cybercrime forums

Nulled and Cracked had a Lorelai-cal rise - until Operation Talent stepped in

Microsoft joins CISPE, the Euro cloud crew that tried to curb its licensing

From fighters to friends in six months, despite AWS voting against it

BT unplugs plans to turn old cabinets into EV chargepoints

Your battery might be flat, but the Wi-Fi signal is going to be great

Will 2025 be the year satellite-to-smartphone services truly take off?

Connectivity direct to unmodified mobes looms, thanks to Starlink and co

Eutelsat OneWeb blames 366th day for 48-hour date disaster

Leap year curse strikes satellite broadband vendor

Japan's wooden satellite exits International Space Station

Carefully crafted wooden box, LignoSat, is on its own

Starlink direct-to-cell is coming to Ukraine

Cell towers not required when messaging on Musk's finest

Taiwan in talks to tap Amazon's Project Kuiper space broadband

In case of submarine cable failure, call Jeff Bezos