Europe's top mobile operators in early talks for satellite-to-mobile consortium

Europe's largest mobile operators—Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone Group, and Telefonica—are in early talks to form a consortium to bid on satellite spectrum for direct-to-mobile services, according to a Bloomberg News report on Monday. The carriers would jointly bid for a share of 2 gigahertz of airwaves that the European Union has proposed reserving for a local operator, aiming to boost sovereign satellite capabilities. No final decisions have been made, and Vodafone and Orange declined to comment while Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica did not respond. The initiative would create a European rival to Elon Musk's Starlink service and aligns with the EU's push to build independent satellite communication infrastructure.