US envoy warns Europe of 'devastating' retaliation over a satellite spectrum plan that would cap Starlink

The U.S. ambassador to the European Union has warned that European companies could face "devastating" retaliation in the American market if Brussels goes ahead with a plan to reserve much of a satellite-to-phone spectrum band for European operators, a plan that would cap how much SpaceX's Starlink could win. Andrew Puzder made the remarks in an interview with the Financial Times published on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, two days before SpaceX reports third-quarter results.

What Puzder said

Puzder said European businesses "should be wary" of retaliation and that the consequences could be "very devastating," given the size of the U.S. market, according to Anadolu Agency's account of the interview. Reuters carried the same warning on Sunday. He accepted that Europe has a right to protect sensitive government information but objected to using legislation to disadvantage American competitors.

"If the purpose is to make the United States less competitive, I think that that's not a legitimate goal of this kind of legislation," he said. "You don't make European companies more competitive by making US companies less competitive."

He also questioned whether the EU's multibillion-euro Digital Markets Act fines on U.S. technology companies were about competition or revenue, and criticized the Commission's proposed Cloud and AI Development Act. No concrete U.S. measure has been announced.

What the EU plan would do

The dispute is over the 2 GHz mobile-satellite band, 1,980 to 2,010 MHz for uplink and 2,170 to 2,200 MHz for downlink, which ordinary phones can use to reach satellites directly. Since 2009 two operators have each held a paired 15 MHz block across the EU, rights that expire in May 2027. Viasat and EchoStar hold them today.

The European Commission's proposal, published May 27, 2026, would split the band into six paired 5 MHz blocks and award them for 20 years through an EU-run selection. Two blocks would go to a secure system for government users, run by a company controlled only by the EU, its member states or their citizens and integrated with the EU's IRIS² secure satellite program. Of the four commercial blocks, EU-controlled newcomers "should be prioritised" for two, the text says, and no single commercial operator could hold more than a paired 10 MHz. That caps any non-EU operator, SpaceX included, at a third of the band.

The Commission sets out its reasoning in the proposal. "Currently, there is no Union satellite operator holding rights to use spectrum in the 2 GHz MSS band," it says, adding that its goals "could be impaired if commercial MSS across the Union were to be provided exclusively by a single third country operator." The Commission has said the plan diversifies EU suppliers while staying open to operators from outside the bloc.

Why SpaceX objects

SpaceX, which runs Starlink, has opposed the plan. In a document given to European officials in June, the company warned: "This proposal creates a significant possibility that Europeans will be left without direct-to-device satellite services or that new European operations will cause global interference issues, particularly for emergency services such as those operating in Ukraine." Starlink has carried civilian and military communications in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion.

Where the plan stands

The plan is still a proposal. Under the EU's ordinary legislative procedure, both the European Parliament and member governments must agree to it. Parliament's industry committee appointed Angelika Winzig, a lawmaker from the EPP group, as rapporteur on July 8, and the file was formally referred to the committee on Sept. 14. Parliament's legislative tracker lists it as awaiting a committee decision. Because the current rights expire in May 2027, the proposal would extend Viasat's and EchoStar's rights by two years if they ask, to keep existing services running, and would bar them from transferring or leasing those rights during the extension.

What comes next

SpaceX reports third-quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, Oct. 20, with a webcast at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. That is the first scheduled chance for investors to hear whether management addresses the dispute. In Brussels, the next step is the industry committee's position on the file.