SES Astra and Eutelsat look to be the likely beneficiaries of a move by the European Commission (EC) to facilitate bidding for a European wide satellite license for mobile services, which would be used to offer mobile TV and other satellite services direct to mobile handsets throughout the 27 EU member countries.
SES Astra controls 16 satellites covering Europe, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Eutelsat controls 25.
The International Telecommunications Union has the power to coordinate frequency allocation throughout Europe as a tool for management of
interference, but its powers have never extended to selection or authorization, which is a role usually left to the separate 27 member regulators. The EU plans to step in and have everything in place to allow European wide spectrum allocation in time for 2009, by which time satellites are expected to be in place.
There will still need to be a vote by the European parliament in order for this step to go through and that may not be a foregone conclusion, given the growing nervousness that European regulators have about conceding ground to the European Commission.
Satellite TV allocations have never needed to be harmonized, and don’t largely interfere with one another, but then again these are all up around 12.5 GHz, not 2.1 GHz. The Commission also argues that by standardizing on the process of selection and on the criteria for selection, that the revenue from Mobile Satellite Services can be shared across multiple territories, making the prospect more attractive for any bidder to reach profitability, which in turn makes the licenses more valuable. The Commission has definitely been lobbied by European satellite groups to make this happen, but has not yet discussed just how many licenses will be issued. In all, the spectrum at issue is a total of 60 MHz, in two 30 MHz slices, from 1980 to 2010 MHz and from 2170 to 2200 MHz.
SES Americom and Eutelsat have already jointly agreed to launch a satellite in 2009 which will target the provision of mobile TV using DVB-SH, working in conjunction with Alcatel Lucent, and since the spectrum is there currently on a first come first served basis, Alcatel is working on getting ground stations that use the same spectrum as this later this year, to act as terrestrial repeaters for a satellite based mobile TV platform that is Europe wide. The €130 million ($166 million) satellite was provided by ex-Alcatel businesses, sold off to Italian interests in the last few years.
Other MSS services that the Commission thinks might be considered are pan-European data broadcasting, two way high-speed internet access, mobile and public protection and disaster relief, and SES and Eutelsat are both making moves to address those markets.
SES this week cut a deal with German ISP H3 Netservice to provide rural satellite DSL class services targeting the 2.9 million Germany household without broadband, claiming that its ASTRA2Connect service delivers triple-play services without any terrestrial support.
MSS services will rely on specialist handsets to be able to complete a two way link to a satellite on a mobile device, with high battery and antenna demands, but one way services could be received by most ordinary handsets with minor modifications.
‘The potential for Europe-wide mobile satellite services is massive – Think mobile television, think broadband for all, think public protection and disaster relief,’ said Viviane Reding, the EU’s Telecoms Commissioner. ‘The new way the Commission proposes today to select mobile satellite services will give Europe’s industry the necessary confidence to invest in new EU-wide services for citizens. It will also help bridge the digital divide by improving coverage in the EU’s remote areas.’
Today’s proposal will provide the basis for a single comparative selection procedure organized by the Commission in cooperation with Member States. Once the proposal is adopted, the Commission will publish an open call for applications, which will be assessed technically as well as commercially and further assessment criteria will include geographic coverage, consumer and competitive benefits, the fulfillment of public policy objectives, and spectral efficiency. Selected operators will still pay any license fees to the national regulators as normal.