Justice has decided, SpaceX could well withdraw its Starlink satellite Internet service from French soil. Various environmental associations have succeeded in bending justice in their favor to deprive SpaceX of its radio frequencies.
After being seized by environmental associations, the court overturned the authorization of Arcom, the telecoms regulator, which had granted two frequency bands to Starlink on February 9, 2021 to connect its satellites in orbit around the Earth and French end users.
The winning appeal filed by the environmental associations Priartem and Agir denounced in particular the haste of Arcepwhich would not have carried out a public consultation before giving the green light to billionaire Elon Musk’s business. However, the arrival of SpaceX in France on Monday May 10, 2021 was ” likely to have a significant impact on the market for the provision of high-speed Internet access, and affect users “.
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SpaceX would be forced to leave France following this decision
According to Me François Lafforgue, lawyer for the associations, the court decision now prohibits SpaceX from using these frequencies, and therefore from offering its satellite Internet service in France. For the moment, it is not known if the company will appeal this decision, but it seems that it is still possible to order an antenna on the official site.
For his part, Stephen Kerckhove, general delegate of the Agir pour l’Environnement association, welcomed a decision which ” put things right “. He adds that ” By dint of wanting to go too fast, we end up cutting corners. The Council of State sends a signal to those who confuse speed with haste”. Moreover, he announces that Agir ” now calls on Arcep not to content itself with formally applying the obligation to consult, and to carry out an economic and environmental assessment of the Starlink project.
With this decision, the environmental associations Priartem and Agir will therefore condemn certain areas of the country to remain white areas, i.e. places where no network is available. Stephen Kerckhove points out that Starlink’s 12,000 satellites will get in the way of those who like to observe the starry sky, but banning the service in France will not make them disappear.
