Pro-M Strengthens Redundancy of Hungary's Critical Communications Network with Satellite Backhaul and Starlink Plans

Hungarian public safety network operator outlines its satellite capabilities as the country joins the EU's IRIS² constellation

Pro-M Zrt., the operator of Hungary's national public safety communications network EDR, has set out how satellite communications are being used to reinforce the resilience of the country's emergency services networks, while work continues on a complementary Starlink-based solution. The update follows Hungary's recent decision to join the European Union's IRIS² secure satellite constellation, and forms the second part of a series published by Pro-M examining satellite communications in crisis situations.

The EDR network forms the backbone of communications for Hungary's emergency and public safety organisations. Built in 2006, it has been operated by Pro-M for almost two decades. Alongside the TETRA network, an LTE-based broadband service was launched in February 2025, with voice calling and SMS messaging becoming available on the broadband network from October.

For both technologies, mobile rapid-deployment base stations can provide temporary coverage for mass events, disaster situations or areas with limited coverage, where no other solution is available. Since 2009, Pro-M has been able to provide the transmission link between these mobile base stations and the core network via satellite. The satellite antenna fitted to the mobile TETRA base station (TBS) positions itself automatically on the AMOS (Affordable Modular Optimized Satellite) satellite, establishing the transmission channel required for TETRA communications.

The approach was applied operationally in 2012, when a mobile base station was connected by satellite to support firefighting efforts during an extensive fire at Bugac. The protected landscape area offered neither fixed-line connectivity nor suitable microwave or other wireless transmission options.

Pro-M is now working to supplement its current VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal)-based solution with the Starlink satellite communications system, which is available in Hungary and is considered technologically and economically more favourable.

In parallel with the development of terrestrial systems, Hungary is joining European efforts to develop secure government satellite communications. On 16 July 2026, Zoltán Tanács, Minister for Science and Technology, announced that Hungary will participate in IRIS², with the capacity of 17 satellites in the shared low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation reserved exclusively for Hungary. While the earlier EU timetable foresaw full IRIS² service capability by 2030, an acceleration announced in August now envisages the launch of the first satellites in 2029.

How the terrestrial EDR backbone and future national satellite systems will complement one another in Hungarian emergency communications will become clearer in the coming period. The stated objective is to build a sovereign, secure and critical government communications infrastructure.