With the increasing importance of the satellite internet as the backbone of the global digital infrastructure, major countries have entered a heated race to secure their independence in this vital sector, realizing the strategic risks of over-reliance on foreign services in this area.
While Elon Musk’s Starlink is leading the space internet scene with nearly 7,000 satellites, other global powers such as the European Union and China are moving to challenge America’s apparent dominance in this area.
Moving away from Musk’s satellites
A few days ago, Europe began to implement steps that allow it to move away from Musk’s satellites, by investing 11.1 billion dollars to build its own encrypted satellite network.
The EU space internet project is named IRIS⊃2; it includes 290 satellites capable of covering a variety of orbits, as this group of satellites will provide secure communication services to the member states of the Union, government authorities, high-speed broadband internet for private companies and citizens, supporting the achievement of strategic independence and secure communications for military, defense and diplomatic purposes.
EU officials said that IRIS⊃2; is based on fewer satellites, but its multi-orbit design, puts it on a par with a constellation of about 1000 satellites from Starlink in terms of performance.
The IRIS 2 project will be implemented under a 12-year concession contract between the European Commission and the SpaceRISE consortium led by the French company Eutelsat, the Spanish Hispasat and SES from Luxembourg, other partners in the project also include OHB, Airbus Defense and Space, Telespazio, Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Hisdesat.
The EU will contribute about 6.2 billion to finance the implementation of the IRIS 2 project, while private companies will provide funding of about 4.2 billion, while the European Space Agency will provide about 571 million to support the project, whose infrastructure will be located exclusively in Europe with control centers in Luxembourg, France and Italy, and it will be fully operational by 2030.
China challenges Musk
In turn, China decided to confront the dominance of Starlink satellites operated by Elon Musk, and announced in December 2024 the launch of the third batch of the constellation of low-Earth orbit internet satellites, which it called Qianfan, as China aims to gradually deploy 15,000 satellites within this group.
In addition, China is developing two additional sets of satellites, Guo Wang and Honghu-3, with plans to launch 13,000 and 10,000 of these sets, respectively.
Experts point out that the possession of satellite internet systems will give China a geopolitical and security advantage, but achieving this goal requires Beijing to increase its missile capabilities to launch the huge number of satellites into orbit.
In a world where the internet is increasingly used as a tool to manage people’s daily lives, owning a constellation of internet satellites has become more than just a technical luxury, it is now an essential element of national security, especially in light of escalating geopolitical challenges and constant threats to terrestrial infrastructure.
When traditional internet networks are disrupted or targeted during crises or Wars, satellites emerge as an indispensable strategic solution that ensures continuity of communication, and this gives countries that possess this technology a multifaceted influence.
Starlink dominates the scene
Elon Musk’s Starlink service is already dominating the space internet scene right now and is investing a lot of money in this area, so even realizing its plan to deploy up to 42,000 satellites will give it great influence in this area.
For both Europe and China, the influence enjoyed by Starlink is an American influence that poses an increasing danger and this is what prompted them to accelerate their plans to develop their own space internet projects in order to avoid technological dependence on the United States.
For China and Europe, Elon Musk’s Starlink service demonstrated its ability to provide internet access for matters of war, that is, the limits of this technology were not limited to providing the internet only for civilian purposes.
In Ukraine, for example, with the collapse of the ground-based internet infrastructure, Starlink technologies played a pivotal role in enabling the so-called”connected battlefield”, helping to activate drone warfare and other military activities, noting that this military use of the space internet is now seen as a very dangerous and important strategic advantage at the same time, for China as well as for Europe.
Although the latter is an ally of the United States, rapid changes in the field of alliances require everyone to have independent “space internet” capabilities.
Apart from being a tool of geopolitical influence, China spends a huge amount of money on internet satellite projects, motivated by censoring what its citizens can access, the US Starlink provides uncensored content and this can really break through the Chinese censorship system, so Beijing needs to secure an alternative that allows it to fully control the flow of information while maintaining its cyber and sovereign security in the face of American technological influence.
The investments that Europe and China are currently making in the field of space internet are not a very late step, but they come in the context of a race in which the United States controls the most powerful influence, having been the forerunner in adopting this technology and investing intensively.
Europe’s achievement of its ambition to have an independent satellite internet network seems more realistic compared to China, which faces great challenges in keeping up with this development due to possible American pressures at various levels, however, we must not forget China’s superiority in the field of terrestrial internet, as it provides its services through Huawei, which is strikingly advanced compared to its global competitors.
He stressed that the control of the space internet has become a matter of security and economic and political independence, and this reality pushes major countries to wage a frantic race to get a balanced share in this technology, which ensures survival in the equation of global influence, pointing out that the sky is no longer just a communications space, but has turned into a strategic field for security and influence conflicts in the modern era.
