Poland puts $745 million into Europe's home-grown satellite internet

Poland's investment funds a dozen satellites in the EU's IRIS² constellation, part of Europe's push for sovereign broadband.

Poland has committed roughly $745 million — 2.8 billion zloty, or about 656 million euros — to the development of IRIS², the European Union's planned satellite internet constellation. An official ceremony was held July 21 in Warsaw, attended by European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius and Poland's Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski. The Polish funds will pay for six medium Earth orbit satellites and six low Earth orbit satellites.

IRIS² is designed to secure government satellite communications and deliver high-speed broadband to connectivity dead zones across the EU's 27 member states. The full system is planned at about 292 satellites — 18 in MEO, 264 in high LEO, and 10 in low LEO, per the European Commission in February — and is meant to interconnect with terrestrial 5G and 6G networks.

For abundance, this is infrastructure aimed directly at closing coverage gaps: places where terrestrial networks never reached get a public-backed path to broadband. Kierwinski framed it as opening business for more than 400 Polish space companies, and Poland is also standing up a state fund of over 500 million zloty to invest in the sector.

What to watch is delivery. IRIS² is often described as Europe's answer to Starlink, but that framing is interpretive — the constellation is still in development, and hardware, launch, and service timelines remain to be proven. Poland's ESA contribution will grow to about 731 million euros for 2026–2028, and it will host the first ESA center on the eastern flank, opening in Warsaw.

Source: SpaceNews