ESG Telegraph
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Environment
  • Companies
  • Investors
  • Governance
  • Markets
  • Social
  • Regulators
  • Sustainable Finance
Featured Posts
    • Companies
    Vanguard active funds suffer bloodiest first-half on record
    • August 15, 2022
    • Markets
    Why the Fed might be at ‘neutral’ already on monetary policy
    • August 15, 2022
    • Latest News
    Rio Tinto rebuffed in plan to take control of Mongolia copper project
    • August 15, 2022
    • Companies
    Digital advertising: Apple takes bigger bite of new business
    • August 15, 2022
    • Latest News
    At 75, India is finally ready to join the global party
    • August 15, 2022
Featured Categories
Belarussia
View Posts
Companies
View Posts
Energy
View Posts
Environment
View Posts
Food
View Posts
Governance
View Posts
Health
View Posts
Investors
View Posts
Latest News
View Posts
Markets
View Posts
Potash
View Posts
Regulators
View Posts
Russsia
View Posts
Social
View Posts
Supply Chain
View Posts
Sustainable Finance
View Posts
Technology
View Posts
Uncategorized
View Posts
ESG Telegraph ESG Telegraph
7K
9K
4K
1K
ESG Telegraph ESG Telegraph
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Environment
  • Companies
  • Investors
  • Governance
  • Markets
  • Social
  • Regulators
  • Sustainable Finance
  • Companies

EU to take on SpaceX and Amazon with its own satellite internet system

  • February 15, 2022
  • Staff
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

The EU is to launch plans for a multibillion-euro satellite internet system to compete with the likes of Amazon and SpaceX despite previous objections from its internal watchdog.

Brussels’ initiative to provide encrypted broadband coverage will be unveiled on Tuesday in amended form after proposals were twice rejected by the European Commission’s Regulatory Scrutiny Board. The board — which vets impact assessments for proposals put forward by the commission — believed the scheme would waste money and compete with commercial services, according to EU officials.

The Secured Communications initiative has been put forward by Thierry Breton, the internal market commissioner, who wants the EU to build a third satellite system in lower earth orbit (LEO) for secured communications and access to the internet. The EU already has Galileo, a global navigation system, and Copernicus, which is used for earth observation.

The signal from the new system would be encrypted and offered to Europe and Africa to give that continent an alternative to Chinese-built infrastructure. It would also provide a back-up in case of cyber attacks.

Breton told French TV channel BFM on Monday that the EU needed a sovereign system with encryption that governments and companies could use.

“It is indispensable that Europe has its own constellation and not depend on the Americans and Chinese,” he said. “It will run north-south and secure our communications in case of cyber attack. It has a military and sovereign dimension. We can offer connectivity to the continent of Africa.”

The commission’s scrutiny board rejected the impact assessment for the project twice, according to two people familiar with the situation, on the basis that other options had not been fully considered. This in effect ruled out cheaper options such as renting space on a commercial provider’s network or using an earth-based system.

Some amendments were made following the rejections with a commitment to involve small companies in the design and building of the system to boost the EU’s space industry. Businesses will be asked to provide €2bn of the initial investment in a public/private partnership.

It is rare for a project to be rebuffed twice from the commission’s own watchdog and a scheme would usually be blocked unless Maros Sefcovic, vice-president of the commission for interinstitutional relations, agreed to take it forward. The commission declined to comment on internal procedures.

One EU diplomat said although several member states had reservations they believed the plan would receive approval.

The commission contracted companies including Airbus, SES and Eutelsat to carry out a technical study for the project. The running costs are significant, with LEO satellites needing replacement roughly every five to seven years.

The EU conceived the idea after the UK bought a stake in OneWeb, the satellite operator, in 2020. Last year Eutelsat, in which the French government has a stake, invested in OneWeb, causing Breton to question whether Eutelsat could take part in the EU project.

SpaceX, owned by Tesla founder Elon Musk, has launched close to 2,000 satellites under the Starlink name and has applied for licences to fly more than 40,000.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper will comprise more than 3,000 satellites.

The EU intends to offer services to consumers in remote places without broadband. But Starlink heavily subsidises the hardware needed to receive it, charging $499 against a cost at least four times that. Broadband costs $99 a month in the US, around double the price of fibre.

 

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
You May Also Like
Read More
  • Companies

Vanguard active funds suffer bloodiest first-half on record

  • Staff
  • August 15, 2022
Read More
  • Companies

Digital advertising: Apple takes bigger bite of new business

  • Staff
  • August 15, 2022
Read More
  • Companies

Climate and crypto fraught with challenges for regulators 

  • Staff
  • August 15, 2022
Read More
  • Companies

FirstFT: European office market’s big test

  • Staff
  • August 15, 2022
Read More
  • Companies

How female founders are challenging the funding gap

  • Staff
  • August 15, 2022
Read More
  • Companies

UK employers could be forced to pay down pension deficits

  • Staff
  • August 15, 2022
Read More
  • Companies

Afghan roads once menaced by the Taliban are now safer. . . for some

  • Staff
  • August 15, 2022
Read More
  • Companies

A week for reflection: Afghanistan a year on, and 75 years since partition

  • Staff
  • August 14, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Featured Posts
  • 1
    Vanguard active funds suffer bloodiest first-half on record
    • August 15, 2022
  • 2
    Why the Fed might be at ‘neutral’ already on monetary policy
    • August 15, 2022
  • 3
    Rio Tinto rebuffed in plan to take control of Mongolia copper project
    • August 15, 2022
  • 4
    Digital advertising: Apple takes bigger bite of new business
    • August 15, 2022
  • 5
    At 75, India is finally ready to join the global party
    • August 15, 2022
Recent Posts
  • Climate and crypto fraught with challenges for regulators 
    • August 15, 2022
  • China cuts lending rate as economic data disappoint and Covid cases rise
    • August 15, 2022
  • FirstFT: European office market’s big test
    • August 15, 2022

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Subscribe now to our newsletter

ESG Telegraph
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Guest Post
  • Contact

Input your search keywords and press Enter.