France: Starlink ban could be reversed
April 11, 2022
By Chris Forrester
French regulator Arcep (which is the authority for the regulation of electronic communications) says it will now hold public hearings on SpaceX’s request to operate its Starlink broadband-by-satellite service over France.
The regulator has been criticised for issuing operational licences to Starlink (in February 2021) without holding obligatory public hearings. Arcep now says it invites public comments which must be made within one month. The closing date for comments is May 9th.
Arcep added that the licences were granted to Starlink because it did not view Starlink’s availability as having a large effect on the market, nor affecting the interests of end users.
“The frequency bands considered allow for the cohabitation of multiple satellite systems and will not provoke a frequency shortage. What is more, there are already other broadband satellite providers with several tens of thousands of subscribers out of the more than 17 million broadband subscribers in France.”
France’s Conseil d’Etat ordered that because Arcep had not held public consultations the licences had to be cancelled.