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Elon Musk may be able to beam internet data from thousands of Starlink satellites in space to Earth-bound devices, but as of now, he isn’t wowing everyday consumers in Europe with the nifty technology.
Starlink’s sky network can bring internet to underserved, remote areas. The technology is gaining ground for in-flight connectivity, and — controversially — is being considered by the Italian government to provide secure government communications, too.
But for most everyday smartphone users in Europe, Musk and competing satellite broadband providers can’t crack the market of reliable, high-speed coverage just yet.
A recent report from the European Commission revealed that about 79 percent of European households are already covered by “very high capacity” networks — i.e. reaching a download speed of at least 1,000 megabits per second or 1 gigabit — increasingly through ultra-fast “fiber” connections.
“If I were a customer, if I can get fiber, I will take fiber … If I don’t have good broadband from any of the traditional means, then great, I’ll have the satellites please,” said Robert Mourik, the chair of the organization of European telecom watchdogs BEREC.
Starlink offers speeds up to five times slower than what Europeans may get — ranging from 25 to 220 Mbps, depending on location, network congestion and weather conditions. It is also inferior to fiber networks when it comes to latency, the time data takes to travel to a server and back, which is critical for online gaming, videoconferencing, virtual reality and autonomous vehicles.
Although suitable for everyday internet use, Starlink’s bandwidth won’t be enough to shake up Europe’s market, where consumers can afford a much better connection at lower prices — even if data suggests they aren’t desperate for gigabit plans.
“In Europe, indeed, it is more difficult to get customers because fiber is a very attractive alternative,” said Jan Frederik Slijkerman, a telecom analyst at Dutch multinational bank ING.
Across the European Union, a Starlink subscription would on average cost around €49 per month, plus an upfront €249 for the terminal kit, compared to just €21.32 for a similar offer from traditional internet providers.
Faster options like fiber are cheaper, too, averaging €35.17 — except for a few cases like Greece, where its many islands and mountainous terrain make fixed broadband rollout more challenging.
Still, there’s a shot in niche and underserved markets — think rural areas and remote islands where there is no business case for a telecoms connections or connectivity on cruise ships and yachts.
“I see it as a bit of an addition to the offering,” Mourik said. “What the satellites … can do at the moment is amazing but it’s not as good as a fiber connection,” he stressed, adding that Starlink “doesn’t have the capacity to provide a service to everyone in an area.”
In Southeast England, including the wider London area, for instance, Starlink no longer takes new customers after it maxed out its network capacity for that location.
Europe’s counter-offer
The EU’s efforts to beef up network security and resilience will see satellites take on a growing role in the years ahead.
In December, the European Commission signed contracts to build up a multibillion-euro constellation of cyber-secure satellites, dubbed IRIS², to beam encrypted high-speed broadband internet back to governments, spies, militaries and remote regions.
The plan — a not-so-subtle bid to compete with Musk’s SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company — has faced delays and cost overruns. While it may not impress the tech mogul, it shows the EU wants to ramp up its sovereign space capabilities.
Telecommunications “is a strategic sector that you want to control to some extent,” Mourik said, recalling that Musk reportedly blocked Ukraine’s access to Starlink during a key counteroffensive against Russia, citing concerns Moscow would escalate with nuclear weapons.
“You don’t want all of the communications in your country to be owned or provided by companies from abroad,” the European telecoms regulator said.
The EU executive is also preparing a new Space Act, expected to land in the spring.
Musk has been tetchy about EU efforts to regulate his businesses before. He’s been getting scrutiny over his political posts on his social network X, and there is a probe into the platform’s safeguards against misinformation.
The Space Act will include a raft of measures aimed at making the business of launching rockets and running satellites in orbit more sustainable and responsible.
Market access for services such as those that Starlink beams to consumers may very well face stricter rules with the Space Act, setting up another regulatory battle between Brussels and the tech billionaire who’s now leading the United States’ government efficiency efforts.
Starlink’s ascent
Although Musk’s mega constellation is no threat to Europe’s traditional telecom operators today, it’s steadily making strides globally.
Starlink said it had 4.6 million customers worldwide in 2024, up from 2.3 million in 2023. Tech giant Cloudflare estimated that Starlink traffic grew 3.3 times last year.
ING’s Slijkerman described satellite connectivity as “one of the most exciting fields in communication development,” adding that while Starlink may not disrupt Europe’s broadband scene yet, “it’s opening up a whole new market.”
The airline industry, for one, has shown a lot of interest in Starlink satellites to offer solid Wi-Fi to their passengers. Elon Musk has inked deals with United Airlines and Air France.
“What we don’t know is what secret plans the likes of Elon Musk” have, “to what extent are they going to try and break into the direct-to-satellite market” and “to offer retail services to mobile customers,” Mourik said. “I do know that a lot of mobile operators’ CEOs are worried about that.”
Apple has quietly been working with SpaceX and U.S. carrier T-Mobile to enable the iPhone’s latest update to connect directly to the Starlink service for off-grid communication, according to Bloomberg.
It’s tough to predict whether — or for how much longer — satellite connectivity providers will remain a niche player, Mourik said. “What I say now can be completely outdated tomorrow,” he warned.
Starlink didn’t reply to POLITICO’s request for an interview.
Joshua Posaner contributed to this report.
