By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, May 27 (Reuters) – European leaders are divided on how far to go in curbing Big Tech as they weigh momentous decisions over giving EU firms preferential access to mobile satellite spectrum and limiting large multinationals’ access to EU cloud tenders.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported Brussels was likely to leave an opening for Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s low-earth-orbit satellite business Leo to acquire lucrative European mobile satellite spectrum next year as a result of a compromise that will reserve the bulk of frequencies for European firms.
A separate decision on EU cloud tenders set for June 3 is expected to temper the influence of U.S. firms such as Amazon, Alphabet’s Google and Microsoft, which dominate the global cloud market with a combined 63% share.
Both potential moves reflect Europe’s efforts to strengthen the bloc’s tech sovereignty by promoting EU tech players, driven by concerns over China’s technological rise and the dominance of U.S. tech giants at a time of uncertain transatlantic ties.
European capitals are, however, divided over how hard and fast to move. Some officials advocate going aggressively to build European capacity, while others fret about a possible backlash from Washington and Europe’s ability to plug the gaps.
Those pushing for a more robust “Buy European” posture include EU industry chief Stephane Sejourne, who wants a bigger role for European firms, and EU defence chief Andrius Kubilius, who believes military and defence needs require preferences for European players, according to two people familiar with the debate.
Finnish EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen, meanwhile, maintains Europe should impose clear rules on all companies rather than exclude non-European ones. The sources said Virkkunen’s approach was likely to prevail given she was the one directly responsible for the issues that were now being discussed.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comments from Sejourne, Kubilius and Virkkunen.
A €1 TRILLION INVESTMENT GAP VS THE U.S.
Concerns that sensitive European information is vulnerable to bad actors and that the region is trailing the U.S. and China in digital services are shaping the EU’s Cloud and AI Development Act, due to be unveiled on June 3 after repeated delays caused by infighting.
“The current geopolitical landscape has demonstrated our structural vulnerabilities to being simply ‘cut off’ from very essential infrastructure,” said Alba Ribera Martínez, editor-in-chief of the Stanford Computational Antitrust project, which brings together antitrust agencies and academics.
