Europe spent $2 billion on government satcom, Euroconsult says

Paris, 18 January 2022. – Governments around the world spent $6.6 billion on government telecommunications programs in 2021, representing a 5-year growth rate of 4%, Euroconsult said in its Government Space Programs 2021 report.

Of the $6.6 billion, $3.6 billion were spent on secured satellite communications, with less than $3 billion on civilian satcom capabilities, Euroconsult’s Chief Editor Simon Seminari said.

European countries spent over $2 billion on satcom, with France, the UK and Germany as leaders. Over the decade, governments worldwide are forecasted to invest over $70 billion in both civil and defence satellite communications systems, according to Euroconsult’s report.

As the leader for the provision of secure satcom to its members and any European defence actor, the European Defence Agency (EDA) said it is at the forefront of the EU Govsatcom program which aims at making all the benefits of secure and satellite communications available to European governments, military and institutional stakeholders.

The EDA has taken a sequential approach to support the development, the agency said. Firstly, the operational needs for European civil and military actors involved in the conduct of national and EU Common Security and Defence Policy operations and missions were gathered, it said. Secondly, a feasibility study was conducted that could be leveraged to develop the Govsatcom requirements. Thirdly, the EDA Govsatcom pooling and sharing demonstration project was developed together with 16 contributing Member States and the EU’s Peace Facility, leading to its execution phase starting in 2019, and now recently extended until 2025.

“Work is continuously being undertaken to enhance the portfolio of GOVSATCOM services to better respond to the contributing Members’ needs and expectations”, EDA said.

“Effective, guaranteed and secure satellite services are key to government responses to critical situations, whether traditional defence and security, or in civilian emergencies.”