*

Telecoms union challenges regulator's decision

*

Appeal filed with France's highest administrative court

*

Amazon ( AMZN ) satellite internet service slated for 2026 rollout

By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon

Nov 24 (Reuters) - A French union filed a legal

challenge on Monday against a decision by the country's telecoms

regulator to grant radio spectrum to Amazon's ( AMZN ) satellite internet

service, the biggest test yet of the U.S. tech giant's broadband

ambitions.

The CFE-CGC Telecoms union said it had asked France's

highest administrative court to annul a July decision by

regulator Arcep to award Amazon ( AMZN ) 10-year rights to

frequencies for its low earth orbit (LEO) satellite network.

The union argued that Arcep did not conduct a market

analysis before awarding the spectrum and failed to consult

France's competition authority. It also questioned why the

watchdog did not require a competitive bidding process for the

scarce frequencies.

Amazon ( AMZN ) and Arcep declined to comment.

The legal battle is another example of France confronting

large U.S. technology firms at a time when satellite operators

race to secure valuable spectrum licences.

Amazon ( AMZN ) plans to deploy a fleet of over 3,000 LEO satellites,

previously known as Project Kuiper, with select enterprise

services slated to begin in late 2025 and broader rollout

expected in 2026.

The first 27 satellites were launched in April.

The union also raised security concerns, saying Arcep did

not address public safety legal requirements or data protection

issues for a non-European operator, which it said carried

national security and emergency communications risks.

Advisory firm Oxford Economics, in a study commissioned by

Amazon ( AMZN ) earlier this year, projected France to benefit the most

from Kuiper, particularly through contracts with space launch

provider Arianespace.

Competing in the emerging LEO broadband internet market are

Elon Musk's Starlink and France's Eutelsat, with fleets

of 8,000 and 648 satellites, respectively.

Concerns over European dependence on Starlink grew this year

after fears emerged that access to the service, key to Ukraine's

military communications, could be pulled.

Starlink, which reports 8 million global subscribers but

does not disclose country-specific figures, secured a similar

10-year licence in France in 2021.

"We didn't see (Starlink) coming," said Sebastien Crozier,

chairman of the CFE-CGC union at Orange.

"They granted them a licence, and we no longer know how many

subscribers they have."