Nokia (NOK.US) and ICEYE build a European sovereign satellite network: up to 50 satellites will be launched every year starting in 2028

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Nokia (NOK.US) and satellite startup ICEYE plan to build a secure European communication system in orbit for defense and security affairs, thereby seizing the increasingly urgent need for sovereign services in mainland Europe.

This collaboration is expected to launch up to 50 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites each year starting in 2028, Nokia CEO Justin Hotard (Justin Hotard) and ICEYE CEO Rafal Modrzewski (Rafal Modrzewski) said in a joint interview. For government customers, the two sides will provide ground terminals and satellites, designed to cooperate with land-based networks to keep armed forces, first responders, and ministries connected in the event of an outage.

“Moving from simple radio and mobile communications to sensing and mission-critical connectivity is an incredible opportunity,” said Hortard. He added that communications are increasingly involving both observation and detection.

Following the tightening of ties with the US during the Trump administration, European governments are starting to build their own satellite capabilities. The European Union said in August that it is expanding its IRIS² sovereign satellite program with the goal of creating a unified set of services that do not rely on foreign suppliers.

The background of this round of promotion is that Starlink (Starlink), a subsidiary of Elon Musk, which operates the world's largest satellite communications constellation, said earlier that it may challenge US telecom operators by directly competing for customers. Some Nokia terrestrial operator customers in the US and Europe have begun discussions to form joint ventures to bid for satellite spectrum in an upcoming auction in an attempt to maintain control over this emerging connectivity layer.

Nokia is expanding its business beyond its core mobile network infrastructure, investing in satellite and data center equipment. The company's focus on artificial intelligence infrastructure, combined with investment from AI chip developer Nvidia (NVDA.US), has boosted its stock price by about 65% this year.

“This is probably one of the biggest changes in ICEYE's overall strategy,” Mozevsky said. He added that ICEYE is entering a new market, which he estimates is larger than the intelligence satellite services market.

ICEYE is a group of emerging space companies that benefit from European sovereignty promotion and growing demand for defence-related services. The company raised 450 million euros ($511 million) in June at a valuation of 10 billion euros.

Earlier this month, the company signed a letter of intent with the Polish state-owned military manufacturer PGZ SA to build a Polish military satellite communication system. Mosevsky said this was “one of the signs of demand that contributed to this development.”