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SpaceX already has the largest satellite network in the world and is now preparing to bring 5G connection to cell phones directly from space. It’s a tug of war with the operators… and with Europe.
SpaceX made a show of force this week in Barcelona and the telecommunications sector trembled.
“We will place 50 satellites in each launch. By mid-2027, the idea is to have 1,200 satellites at connect millions of cell phones around the world, at 5G speeds, from space.”
It was like this, with a blunt battery of numbers and dates, that Michael Nicollssenior vice president of Starlink, announced this Monday, at the Mobile World Congress, the company’s plans to lead the next big “billion dollar business”: broadband on cell phone without going through an operator, through direct satellite connection.
Nicolls was quick to clarify that the The intention is not to compete with “telecoms”. In theory, it will be a complementary service to the land connection via fiber and mobile data, says . In Spain, for example, SpaceX announced that the service will be launched in partnership with MasOrange.
The new generation of V2 satellites should offer a download speed 20 times higher than the current generation and a coverage density 100 times bigger.
In other words: wherever you areeven on the top of a mountain without a network, you can make a video call or watch an episode of Netflix as if you were at home (at speeds of 150 Mbps).
SpaceX’s plans give clues about “war two satellites” is approaching, a confrontation that should further accentuate technological rivalry between the USA, China and Europe. And not just for commercial reasons. These are critical infrastructures, essential for any governmentespecially in the field of defense.
The challenge is that, as with Artificial Intelligence, Europe remains too late in the launch of so-called low orbit satellites, or LEO (Low Earth Orbit).
SpaceX has, by far, the largest satellite network on the planetwith almost 10,000 operational units — which is growing. The second placed, the French Eutelsathas more than 600 in orbit.
However, the Amazon released more than 200 through Project Kuiper. The North American Iridium has almost 70. And there are at least half a dozen projects growing at great speed, from “” Guowang (state) and Qianfan/Spacesail (private), to , with a contract signed to launch almost 300 satellites in the future.
Despite the “boom”, the Starlink’s dominance in space remains overwhelming — as the main person responsible for Eutelsat acknowledged this week.
“We fight giants. Europe cannot remain dependent on other countries in this technology, but the current geopolitical situation is pushing us more and more in that direction”, he said this week Jean-François FallacherCEO of Eutelsat.
E depending on Elon Musk is not good news. “In private conversations, what operators tell us is that they are concerned about the direction SpaceX is taking. When you see that a private company has the power to cut, or notthe connection in Ukraine and, this raises many doubts”, he explains to El Confidencial Carlos Riopedregeneral director of Spanish Sateliot.
Sateliot, 20% owned by the Government, already has four satellites in orbit (launched in 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9) and, at the end of the year, will have five more. In 2027, it will launch two others, much more powerful, aboard PLD Space’s Miura rocket.
Its focus, however, is not offering satellite broadband for cell phones, but rather a slower connectivity (enough for voice and data) to monitor a wheat crop, a hydraulic valve in an irrigation canal, or a cow grazing in the Andean highlands.
Just like Sateliot, other Spanish companiessuch as Fossa Systems, and European companies are accelerating the launch of LEO satellites. Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone announced agreements with North American AST SpaceMobile, which expects to have up to 60 satellites in orbit by the end of this year.
Furthermore, Telefónica has just closed an agreement with Satellite Connect Europe, from Luxembourg, 50% owned by AST SpaceMobile and Vodafone, with the aim of “exploiting the use of satellites as a complement to mobile networks” in Spain and Germany. In short: you have to run to avoid the train passing. Again.
Despite the urgency, the data shows that Europe (and its operators and companies) still have margin. The numbers from the last few quarters reveal a particular paradox. Although SpaceX’s network is improving very quickly in key user metrics like download speed, in the overwhelming majority of cases the preferred route continues to be Internet out.
The European context adds another interesting nuance: there are seven countries where the satellite already surpasses fixed broadband in speed. It is not in large markets, but geographies where fiber deployment has been slower or more irregular. There, Starlink is not an alternative: It is, quite simply, the best infrastructure available.
