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.

Countries should consider regulating digital devices like smartphones in a similar way to tobacco products, to combat social media’s rising negative impact on young people’s mental health, the World Health Organization’s Natasha Azzopardi Muscat said. With increasing evidence that problematic gaming and social media behavior is on the rise among adolescents in Europe, countries should take inspiration from other areas of public health where legislation has helped address potentially damaging habits — such as tobacco laws, she said. Measures including age limits, controlled prices and even no-go zones worked for regulating tobacco, so they could be taken as an example for how to curb damaging use of handheld devices like smartphones, Azzopardi Muscat, director of country health policies and systems at WHO Europe, told POLITICO on the sidelines of the European Health Forum, in Gastein, Austria. “Maybe we need to think about where it is appropriate to use digital devices, and maybe it’s also time to start thinking about places where certain digital devices should not be used,” just as we have banned smoking in certain areas, she said. Another key element is ensuring that children and teens — no matter their background, ethnicity or social status — are “literate, equipped and empowered,” she added. This means equipping them with the right knowledge, “so that they rule the digital world and they do not allow the digital world to rule them.” A WHO study published this week found that problematic and “addiction-like” gaming and social media behavior is on the rise among adolescents in Europe. A WHO study published this week found that problematic and “addiction-like” gaming and social media behavior is on the rise among adolescents in Europe. | Peter Nicholls/Getty Images The report, which surveyed almost 280,000 people aged 11 to 15 across Europe, Central Asia and Canada found that more than one in 10 struggles to control their use of social media and experiences negative consequences. Girls reported higher levels than boys, with 13 percent compared with 9 percent. The study also found that 12 percent of adolescents are at risk of problematic gaming, with boys more than twice as likely than girls to show signs of problematic gaming. “As with anything else, you can use these tools well and effectively,” Azzopardi Muscat said. “But we have to be careful, because we have a portion of the population who are reporting problematic use, and we know that this eventually can go on to affect their educational outcomes, their mental health and wellbeing, their productivity in the workforce.” The link between social media use and mental health, especially among teens, is garnering more attention. Earlier this summer, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised a “first-ever European-wide inquiry on the impact of social media on the well-being of young people.” Taking stock of the evidence is essential, but we shouldn’t wait too long, Azzopardi Muscat said. “The evidence needs to be collated systematically, and then we need to see what is likely to work, and what is the approach that we want to take,” she said. “But it’s quite clear that we can’t delay taking actions and decisions.”