The legal battle between Starlink and French operators is coming to an end. On April 17, the Council of State finally ruled in favor of the ISP by satellite, judging that it presented no risk for competition or in terms of interference with other devices. The SpaceX subsidiary can now deploy freely in France.
In 2021, Starlink arrives in France. Unfortunately, not everything is going as planned for Elon Musk’s subsidiary. Barely a year later, Priartem and Agir, two associations involved in the protection of the environment, seized the Council of State to have this authorization cancelled. The latter accepts, judging that there is indeed a risk for competition in the sector.
Then, a few days later, it was Arcep’s turn to get involved in the affair by reallocating its frequencies to Starlink, following a public consultation. But the opponents have not said their last word. Two competing operators are filing an appeal, arguing that the ISP could cause interference to other satellite Internet services.
Starlink will stay in France, it’s official
This time, the Council of State will not side with them. This Monday, April 17, the latter rejected the request of competing operators and associations, considering that the frequencies allocated by Arcep do not present any risk of interference. Similarly, the Council of State does not consider that Starlink will prevent the arrival of other satellite ISPs on the French market.
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Finally, with regard to the environmental issue, Arcep is not responsible for monitoring “conditions of use of frequencies such as to prevent risks relating to atmospheric pollution, the proliferation of space debris in low orbit and interference with space observation”depending on the jurisdiction.
Starlink therefore now has free rein to fully start its development on French soil. For the time being, the service has around 10,000 subscribers, a figure which should quickly rise following the substantial drop in the price of its subscription, as well as thanks to its promise to bring very high speed to the least well-served areas. , still numerous in France.