The Starlink Project, as you probably know, takes the form of a constellation of satellites which should allow people living in areas poorly served by fixed and mobile networks (such as the famous “white areas”) to have access to the Internet. All of these satellites circulates in low orbit around the Earth, and all were deployed and managed by the American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX. If this principle is intended to affect the whole world, France comes however to make a decision which undermines the main will of Elon Musk’s society.
Arcep’s first decision castigated
The Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution (“Arcep”) is an independent French administrative authority responsible for regulating electronic and postal communications and press distribution. Arcep is responsible in particular for supporting the opening up of the telecommunications sector to competition, and for regulating the corresponding markets.
As part of the Starlink projectArcep, as can be read on its website, had the role “to study, and to authorize if necessary, the exploitation of frequencies already registered with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) at the spatial level, on the national territory”. And in this casethe verdict for Starlinkon February 9, 2021, was as follows:
Arcep publishes decision no. 2021-0116 granting an authorization to use radio frequencies to Starlink Internet Services Limited for a network open to the public enabling it to provide fixed internet access via satellite.
Arcep’s decision therefore made it possible to grant two frequency bands to Starlink to connect its satellites and its French end users. But this decision has just been overturned by the Council of State.
A new decision from the Council of State
The ecologists did not see with a good eye the arrival of Starlink in France, which could particularly bother those who enjoy looking at the starry sky. But that’s not all, since according to several scientific communities, the Starkink project could have an impact on the ozone layer. Therefore, following Arcep’s favorable decision concerning the deployment of the starlink project, several environmental associations have decided to seek an appeal. And following this act, we have just learned that the starlink project could very well no longer have any ambition concerning France, since the Internet offer has just lost its hertzian frequencies on French soil.
In a decision published Tuesday, April 05, 2022, the administrative court decided to quash Arcep’s decision. Among the reasons invoked, the Council of State declares that Arcep did not, before rendering its decision, carry out “to a public consultation“, while this verdict had every chance “to have a significant impact on the market for the provision of high-speed Internet accessand affect users”.
Thereby, star link is now deprived of its hertzian frequencies in France, after the winning appeal of environmental associations before the Council of State. For its part, Arcep, according to our colleagues from The gallerysaid to have “take note” of the Council of State’s analysis, and has undertaken to launch the public consultation requested “a.s.a.p”. The general delegate ofActing for the environmentmeanwhile, asked that Arcep “carries out an economic and environmental assessment” from Starlink.
And if you want to know how Starlink was previously knocked down by catsyou can read our previous article on the subject.