Expert Opinion: The GSMA's Satellite Regulatory Report Uncovers the Battle for Telecom Sovereignty
This, says the telecom body, creates uncertainty around spectrum usage, market structure, and operator competitiveness.
In its March 2026 policy paper Regulatory Preparedness for Satellite Services, the GSMA delivers a clear warning: regulation has not kept pace with the rapid expansion of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services, particularly direct-to-device (D2D) and satellite-to-smartphone connectivity. This, says the telecom body, creates uncertainty around spectrum usage, market structure, and operator competitiveness.
The industry concern is clear. While satellite connectivity opens major opportunities to extend coverage and resilience, the absence of harmonized and transparent rules, it warns, risks weakening telecom operators’ control over their own connectivity ecosystems, through fragmented licensing, regulatory asymmetry, and the unchecked growth of vertically integrated new entrants.
But beyond regulatory preparedness, this debate raises a more fundamental question: how can telecom operators preserve sovereignty over the next generation of hybrid terrestrial-space networks, while still benefiting from satellite innovation?
UNIVITY: Building a telecom-native model for space connectivity
Follow us on: 
Fresh from a €27 million Series A funding round, UNIVITY is building the missing infrastructure layer in this evolving telecom landscape. As the global operator of space-based connectivity services, UNIVITY enables carriers to extend the use of their own 5G spectrum beyond terrestrial limits — delivering high-speed, low-latency connectivity from space without bypassing operators or disrupting existing customer relationships. Where the GSMA warns against vertically integrated satellite players operating outside established frameworks, UNIVITY offers a fundamentally different model: a shared, neutral wholesale infrastructure that keeps telecom operators at the center of the value chain.
UNIVITY’s approach is built on two core technological pillars: Very Low Earth Orbit, enabling ultra-low latency and sustainable operations, and the use of telecom operators’ own 5G spectrum, ensuring seamless integration with existing terrestrial networks and true 5G NTN continuity, without relying on frequency bands already saturated or pre-empted by new entrants.
In this context, the regulatory debate around satellite connectivity is not simply about enabling new satellite services. It is about defining the future balance of power in global telecommunications, and whether telecom operators will remain infrastructure leaders or become structurally dependent on external connectivity platforms.
Would you be interested in speaking to Charles Delfieux, Founder & CEO of UNIVITY? He can share insights on:
Why satellite regulation has become a strategic telecom issue
What regulatory parity between satellite and mobile operators really means in practice
Why hybrid terrestrial-space networks require a new infrastructure model
Why spectrum policy alone won’t solve Europe’s connectivity and sovereignty challenges
Why using operators’ own 5G spectrum is key to scalable and sovereign NTN deployment