The four groups are at the initial discussion stage, according to Bloomberg, which cites people familiar with the matter. The idea would be to form a consortium capable of securing European satellite frequencies, and then to offer calls, texts and data from orbit to standard mobile phones. Together, these operators serve the majority of mobile customers in the European Union’s largest markets.
At stake is the 2 GHz band dedicated to mobile satellite services, a 30 MHz allocation that allows a handset to remain connected where no signal is available. The current licences, held by Viasat and EchoStar since 2009, expire in May 2027. On 27 May, the European Commission proposed a single EU-wide selection process and a division of the band into three parts: one for a company under majority European control, one for sovereign government services via IRIS², and the last open to all, including SpaceX and Amazon. The proposal must still be approved by the Parliament and the Council.
The direct link between satellite and mobile phone is the only satellite service that reaches a mass market without requiring new hardware, and Starlink dominates this sector. SpaceX is already able to send text messages, data and calls to unmodified mobile phones, and sells this capability to mobile operators, including Deutsche Telekom. What it cannot do within the EU is offer the service under its own name, due to a lack of frequencies. Whoever holds the European one-third stake will decide whether Starlink remains a supplier or becomes a competitor.
Two of the four candidates, however, already have US partners. Vodafone holds half of a joint venture with AST SpaceMobile, an equally-owned entity that would not be considered European, and which would therefore need to be restructured to compete.
That leaves the satellites. Reserving frequencies does not create a constellation, and IRIS² will not enter service until 2029, initially offering broadband with limited direct capacity to mobile devices, routed via Hispasat. The Spanish company Sateliot is seeking €150 million, Eutelsat expects to return to growth in 2027, whilst Amazon has applied to the FCC for 5,105 satellites dedicated to mobile phones. The most likely scenario remains that of a European consortium which holds the spectrum and leases capacity from an American constellation. The Next Web
Middle East
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia - 🇮🇷 Iran - 🇾🇪 Yemen • The pro-Iranian Houthis have seized Yemen’s Red Sea coastline following a lightning offensive launched last week, with the capture of the port of Mokha yesterday, followed by the islands of Zuqar, Mayyoun and Little and Big Hanich. The movement now controls the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb and promises safe passage for all shipping companies, with the exception of Saudi vessels, which are already barred from entering. Yemeni, Iranian and regional sources describe a campaign led by the Revolutionary Guards, who are said to have asked the Houthis last week to step up their attacks on Saudi Arabia in exchange for funds, weapons and senior officers. Riyadh, which has carried out limited air strikes on Mokha airport and on the northern fronts, finds itself caught in a stranglehold, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining blocked by Tehran. The fighting has claimed hundreds of lives and forced nearly 46,000 people onto the roads, according to the International Organisation for Migration. The Security Council held an emergency meeting yesterday, with its Special Envoy Hans Grundberg warning of a precipice leading to a far more dangerous conflict.
🇮🇱 Israel - 🇱🇧 Lebanon • Yesterday, the Israeli army blew up underground fortifications seized from Hezbollah on the Ali Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, triggering a 4.1-magnitude tremor recorded by the US Geological Survey. Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister, Israel Katz, see this as the completion of the security zone sought by Israel.
🇮🇷 Iran - 🇴🇲 Oman • Iran will host a meeting in Oman on Monday between the foreign ministers of Iraq and other Arab Gulf states, dedicated to the security of commercial shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei announced today.
Europe
🇷🇺 Russia - 🇺🇦 Ukraine • Russian strikes today caused a fire in a nine-storey building in Kyiv and left eight people injured, according to the city authorities. In the Russian region of Tula, Ukrainian drone attacks killed two people and injured three, whilst other strikes damaged civilian infrastructure in Saratov and injured two residents in Volgograd.
🇨🇦 Canada - 🇺🇦 Ukraine • Ottawa announced on Thursday a package of 350 million Canadian dollars to supply interceptor missiles to Kyiv, during Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Calgary, and has joined the Freya project, a less expensive alternative to the American Patriot system. The two countries have signed a partnership to produce drones in Canada using Ukrainian technology, 30 per cent of which will be sent straight to the front line. Volodymyr Zelensky said he expects to meet Donald Trump in New York at the end of September.
🇸🇪 Sweden • Candidates in Sunday’s general election are playing their final cards in a very close campaign. Magdalena Andersson’s centre-left opposition maintains a slight lead, with 50.8 per cent of voting intentions for the four left-wing and centre parties against 47.8 per cent for the four right-wing parties, according to Novus, whilst Ipsos puts them neck and neck at 49.3 per cent against 49 per cent. Outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who has made the fight against crime the centrepiece of his term in office, has significantly narrowed a gap that seemed set in stone this summer. If he wins, the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats would enter government for the first time. The 349 seats in the Riksdag are up for election for a four-year term.
🇪🇺 European Union • The EU-27 recorded 332,000 asylum applications in the first half of the year, a 17 per cent year-on-year decline and the lowest level since 2021, according to the European Asylum Agency. The political transition in Syria partly explains this decline, alongside cooperation with countries of origin and transit. France, Italy, Spain and Germany account for three-quarters of the applications, and Afghans remain the largest group by nationality.
🇪🇺 European Union • The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) has gained access to Mythos 5, Anthropic’s most powerful artificial intelligence model, and is currently testing it, the European Commission announced yesterday. Brussels had been negotiating this access since June for a model whose distribution had previously been restricted almost exclusively to US organisations. ENISA already had access to OpenAI’s most advanced models, including GPT-6-ASTRA.
Asia-Pacific
🇨🇳 China – 🇮🇳 India – 🇮🇷 Iran – 🇷🇺 Russia • Talks between BRICS leaders began today in New Delhi. Narendra Modi welcomed Vladimir Putin and Massoud Pezeshkian, whilst Xi Jinping is expected tomorrow for his first visit to India since 2019. The Iranian president condemned the military aggression by the US and Israel against his country, a conflict that is dividing the bloc, with Russia and China continuing to trade with Tehran whilst the United Arab Emirates suspended trade in August.
🇭🇰 Hong Kong • Three activists who organised the annual vigils in memory of Tiananmen were today sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to over seven years for inciting “subversion”. The UN is calling for the convictions to be quashed, a move the European Union has condemned. The prosecution is calling for the confiscation of the “Pillar of Shame” statue and the archives of the Hong Kong Alliance Museum, which has since been dissolved.
🇰🇵 North Korea • Kim Ju Ae, Kim Jong Un’s daughter and widely regarded as his likely heir, is believed by South Korean intelligence to have a younger brother or sister. The agency considers that she is being treated as the heir apparent, and is still seeking to establish whether she has an older brother, who would in any case not be in a position to succeed him. Having first appeared in public in 2022, she would become the first woman to lead the country.
🇨🇳 China – 🇺🇸 United States • Beijing said on Friday it was seriously concerned and firmly opposed to statements made by a CIA official, according to which Chinese companies are legitimate targets for espionage. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce warned Washington to cease its espionage activities immediately, and announced that China would take the necessary measures to protect the rights of its companies.
Africa
🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo • At least 14 schoolchildren under the age of 10 died on Thursday in a stampede following a fire at their school in Bagira, on the outskirts of Bukavu, according to a nurse at a nearby clinic.
🇪🇸 Spain – 🇲🇦 Morocco • Rabat stated yesterday that there is no evidence to suggest its involvement in the influx of more than 70,000 migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the end of July, and refuses to be made a scapegoat in political score-settling. A Spanish police report, the contents of which were leaked, referred to the permissiveness of the Moroccan security forces. Several thousand people remain in the enclave, many sleeping on the streets or on the beaches.
🇲🇦 Morocco • The campaign for the general election on 23 September began yesterday, with nearly 16 million voters called upon to elect the 395 members of the House of Representatives. Social and regional disparities dominate the debates in a kingdom where unemployment hits young people particularly hard and where 18–24-year-olds account for just 3 per cent of registered voters.
