In a decision published on Tuesday, the administrative court overturns Arcep's decision, taken on February 9, 2021, to grant two frequency bands to Starlink to connect its satellites and its French end users.
The Council of State criticizes Arcep for not having carried out "a public consultation" before granting this green light, even though this decision was "likely to have a significant impact on the supply market access to high-speed internet, and to affect users".
The decision thus gives right to the arguments of the two applicants, the environmental associations Priartem and Agir pour l'environnement.
Starlink was not immediately available to comment on the decision.
According to Me François Lafforgue, lawyer for the associations, the court decision prohibits him from using these frequencies, and therefore from offering his service in France.
Stephen Kerckhove, general delegate of Agir pour l'Environnement, welcomed a decision which "put things right".
"By dint of wanting to go too fast, we end up cutting corners," he said, referring to the fact that Arcep did not consult the public.
"The Council of State sends a signal to those who confuse speed and haste", he judged.
In addition, "we now call on Arcep not to be content with formally applying" the consultation obligation, and "to carry out an economic and environmental assessment" of the Starlink project, he added.
The 12,000 small satellites that Starlink plans to launch, for example, will hinder anyone who likes to observe the starry sky, he estimated.
The Starlink service allows residents of areas poorly served by the fixed and mobile networks of telecom operators to have access to the Internet, via thousands of small satellites circulating in low orbit (mainly 550 kilometers) around the Earth.
© 2022 AFP