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.
