Electromagnetic Spectrum Sovereignty: Europe's New Frontier

July 19, 2026. EU spectrum regulation 2026,

JPA — Strategic Insights

Where Geopolitical Analysis Meets Strategic Vision
By José Parejo, Founding Partner

Electromagnetic Spectrum Sovereignty: Europe's New Regulatory Frontier

By José Parejo, Founding Partner, Jose Parejo & Associates

On 27 May 2026, the European Commission tabled a proposal that went almost unnoticed by the general public but will shape European industrial policy for the next decade: reserving a third of the 2 GHz mobile satellite service band exclusively for government, security, and critical use, under a European operator integrated with the IRIS² constellation. The remaining two-thirds will be split between European and non-European operators for commercial use — from direct-to-device connectivity to energy monitoring and emergency response.

Behind the technical language lies a deeper decision: Europe has chosen to treat the electromagnetic spectrum as sovereign territory, not merely a technical telecommunications resource.

A scarce resource turned strategic

European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen was direct in presenting the proposal: the goal is to "strengthen Europe's competitiveness, its security, and to seize emerging technological opportunities, taking into account the changing geopolitical landscape." The decision carries an explicit geopolitical edge — it reduces non-European operators' access to the most valuable portion of spectrum, a clear move to lower dependence on extra-EU providers.

This is not an isolated case. Spain's own recent experience illustrates why spectrum and space have become first-order critical infrastructure. In January 2026, the military satellite SpainSat NG-II suffered a space debris impact that caused irreparable damage, forcing Hisdesat and Spain's Ministry of Defence to immediately launch procurement for a third replacement satellite. A fragment mere millimetres wide, travelling at high velocity, was enough to compromise a government communications asset worth billions of euros. The episode confirms what strategic telecommunications professionals had long assumed: the continuity of critical communications is as fragile as it is valuable.

The conceptual shift: from spectrum as infrastructure to spectrum as regulated territory

For decades, the electromagnetic spectrum was managed as a technical telecommunications resource, allocated according to efficiency and interference criteria. Europe's 2026 proposal reveals a paradigm shift: spectrum is now regulated with the same logic as sovereign territory — with borders (reserved bands), customs (EU-level authorisation processes), and foreign policy (selective exclusion of non-European operators).digital-strategy.

This shift — from technical infrastructure to geopolitical territory — is, in our view, the most consequential idea for boards and risk committees in 2026. It is no longer enough to ask, "Do we have communications coverage?" The right question is: "Who controls, regulates, and can deny access to the spectrum our operations depend on?"

For Fortune 500 and IBEX 35 companies with exposure to telecommunications, energy, transport, or logistics, this question is no longer hypothetical. Direct-to-device satellite connectivity, remote energy monitoring, and emergency response systems will, from 2027 onward, depend on a regulatory framework in which spectrum availability is mediated by European political decisions, not commercial agreements alone.

Why we track this domain at JPA

This is precisely why Jose Parejo & Associates collaborates with the Association of Old Crows (AOC), Spain Chapter, producing its weekly industrial monitoring newsletter. We do not do this because the electromagnetic spectrum is exclusively a defence matter — we do it because it is increasingly a matter of operational continuity, regulation, and competitiveness for any organisation dependent on telecommunications, energy, or global logistics.

Spectrum is today as decisive a domain for corporate resilience as energy or cybersecurity, yet it remains almost entirely absent from corporate risk committees. We see this gap — between what unfolds in Brussels' regulatory offices and what reaches the boardroom — as precisely the kind of blind spot strategic intelligence exists to close.

What comes next

The European proposal must now be negotiated with member states and the European Parliament before becoming law, with current licences expiring in May 2027. That negotiating year will be decisive: it will determine which operators — European and non-European — can operate under the new regulatory map of the spectrum, and what role Spain, with its own recent experience of satellite vulnerability, will play in shaping that invisible but increasingly contested territory.

For boards that still consider the electromagnetic spectrum a purely technical matter, 2026 should mark a shift in perspective: sovereignty is no longer measured only in physical borders or monetary reserves, but also in control of the invisible space through which the data sustaining the global economy travels.

#GeopoliticalRisk #TechnologicalSovereignty #ElectromagneticSpectrum #SpectrumSovereignty #StrategicIntelligence #AssociationOfOldCrows

— Jose Parejo

Founding Partner, Jose Parejo & Associates (JPA)

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