The European commission, after a number of Best and Final Offers (BAFO) and months of delay, finally attributed the 12 year concession for IRIS2 to a consortium led by major European satellite operators (Eutelsat, SES, Hispasat). IRIS2 should include around 300 satellites in LEO and MEO orbits providing secured broadband connectivity for European institutions starting in 2030 (ELoin Musk should be on mars by then). A portion of the system can be used by the operators to provide purely commercial services.
In a first phase, until 2027, the EU commits 2.4B€ in funding plus 0.6B€ from ESA (hint: ESA is not EU). The private satellite operators are expected to contribute to the rest, whatever it is, knowing that the initial cost was around 6B$ and is now more likely to reach 10B$. This means the EU will probably need to add more funding after 2027.
To put things into perspective, the cost of Iridium in the 1990s was over 5B$ for 77 satellites ; the cost of OneWEB is estimated between 3.5B€ and 5B€ for around 650 satellites. And the cost of Galileo tripled from an initial 3B€ to well over 10B€. If there is one lesson to remember from large technical projects: costs are always underestimated and in the end the taxpayer will be presented the bill. But while everyone benefits from Galileo and Copernicus, this will not be the case with IRIS2 which is reserved toi institutions and where the commercial operators will be eager to recover their investments…