As well as cloud infrastructure (see separate item), Europe’s policy makers and operators see satellite communications as strategic, and a plan is in the works for the European Commission to launch its own platform to support secure government applications as well as private sector and residential broadband services. The platform would be called Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnection and Security by Satellites (IRIS2). The plan has been proposed by the European Parliament and Council, which came to a provisional agreement on regulation, setting out an ambition for a constellation to cover Europe and some other areas of “strategic interest”, including the Arctic and parts of Africa. The plan still needs to be fully approved by member states at the European Council…