Four of Europe’s biggest telecom companies are joining forces to challenge Elon Musk’s SpaceX as European leaders push to reduce the continent’s reliance on American tech.

Germany’s Deutsche Telekom, France’s Orange, the United Kingdom’s Vodafone Group, and Spain’s Telefónica announced Monday that they signed a letter of intent to explore a joint bid for satellite spectrum. These radio frequencies connect mobile phones directly to satellites instead of relying on cell towers.

The move comes as the European Union considers new rules for allocating satellite access on the 2 GHz spectrum. The European Commission has proposed reserving portions of that spectrum for European operators according to Bloomberg.

Under the proposed partnership, the four companies would establish ground infrastructure and operations in Europe while teaming up with a satellite provider. Other mobile carriers across Europe would also be able to use the network to offer satellite-to-phone services to their customers.

“The initiative supports the European Commission’s ambition to strengthen Europe’s sovereignty, security and resilience in critical connectivity infrastructure,” the companies said in a press release.

Over in the United States, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile launched a similar joint venture this month to expand satellite connectivity in areas with limited or no cell service.

Musk has recently teased plans to expand his satellite internet service, SpaceX’s Starlink, into the mobile network business.

The European announcement also comes just days after Starlink’s military satellite service, Starshield, reportedly began restricting connections to terminals traveling above certain speeds, disrupting Ukrainian military drone operations. S.

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