Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of reliance on Starlink in the (a) private and (b) public sectors; what steps he is taking to help increase competition in satellite technologies.

The government acknowledges rapid evolutions in the global satellite communications sector. Monopoly rarely serves the public interest and a competitive market is important to ensuring public and private sector value. We are keen to secure UK leadership in commercial satellite communications, which is why the UK has:

• delivered the Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit programme to develop the next generation of UK satellite communications technologies;
• led the European Space Agency’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems programme;
• supported a series of satellite broadband trials with a range of suppliers; and
• acquired a stake in UK based low Earth orbit satellite operator OneWeb, which supports over 400 highly productive UK jobs.