The ambitious IRIS2 satellite proposal for a constellation of European low Earth orbiting satellites is facing further challenges, not least from the German government.

While not confirming the reported final cost of some €12 billion, a response last week to a question in Germany’s parliament (from the CDU/CSU group) talked about the break down in costs and financing.

It said the European Commission initially estimated the total financial outlay for the satellite project at around €6 billion. A total of €2.4 billion would be available as public funding, which would come from the EU space programme, Horizon Europe and other funding sources, among others, according to Brussels in 2023. The remaining €3.6 billion would come from the private sector.

Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper stated that a consortium of European space and telecommunications companies under the leadership of Airbus, including Eutelsat, Hispasat, SES, Thales, Deutsche Telekom, Orange and OHB from Bremen, intended to set up IRIS2. Called SpaceRISE, the alliance has now called for a price tag of almost €12 billion to get the network of up to 170 satellites up and running between 2025 and 2027.

We now know that Airbus and Thales have removed themselves from the alliance although are pitching separately to build the satellites.

FAZ reported that Germany’s Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck is said to have criticised the increase as “exorbitant” and called for the initiative to be restarted. Not helping is the September 16th resignation of the EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, a key supporter of IRIS2. FAZ added that an agreement had been reached where the private sector (in essence SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat) would have their commitment capped at €5 billion and thus taking the overall costs towards €12 billion.

Eutelsat’s CEO Eva Berneke, at last week’s Paris World Satellite Business Week, explained the consortium was now working to its new structure: “IRIS2 has been moving forward in the right direction,” Berneke said. “The consortium has evolved and is now comprised of the operators rather than the operators and the industrial [satellite builders]. The restructuring of the consortium behind IRIS2 is opening the door to a rethinking of the supplier setup, opening up to much more competition for alternatives into IRIS2. I think it’s a great opportunity for the entire ecosystem,” Berneke said. “All of us as operators would love to see a vibrant, innovative, creative ecosystem environment. Without that, we are going to be forced into other kinds of decisions. Having that in Europe is also what IRIS2 is all about.”

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Starlink tests D2C in Romania, US, Japan
2. European telcos unite against Starlink D2C
3. Rivada insists “deadlines will be met”
4. Ergen will gain “greatest opportunity” by losing DISH
5. Rivada’s latest problems could be fatal
6. SES confirms 25c dividend
7. Intelsat gets licence to rescue Galaxy 25
8. Bank downgrades Virgin Galactic
9. EchoStar fails to find extra cash

Categories: Blogs, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: germany, Horizon Europe, iris2, satellite