Starlink looks pale in comparison with what Europeans can get

A daily download of the topics driving the tech policy agenda, from Brussels to London to Silicon Valley.

By PIETER HAECK

with MATHIEU POLLET and ELIZA GKRITSI

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— Has Elon Musk’s Starlink got a shot in Europe? Not really.

— The withdrawal of the EU’s AI liability rules has fans and critics.

— There’s a new report about the price tag of the Eurostack.

Good morning and welcome to Morning Tech. Hi, this is Pieter, back in Brussels after frantic days in Paris — invite me for coffee so I don’t fall asleep. As always, send the hottest tech policy news and gossip to Pieter, Mathieu and Eliza.

STARLINK IS NO MATCH: Elon Musk’s thousands of Starlink low-Earth orbit satellites may provide internet from space, but are failing to wow everyday consumers in Europe. Cracking a market with solid high-speed coverage and low prices won’t be easy for satellite broadband providers.

Despite breakthroughs in niche markets and a fair shot in underserved areas — think countryside and remote islands where there is no business case for operators to fix the blank spots — Musk’s mega constellation is no threat to Europe’s traditional telecom operators today.

By the numbers: The latest report from the European Commission tracking the bloc’s digital transformation 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 one gigabit — like ultra-fast fiber connections. 

Starlink, with promises to offer speeds between 25 to 220 Mbps, looks pale in comparison and comes at a bigger price. Across the EU, 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 your regular telco.

It’s a no-brainer: “If I were a customer, if I can get fiber, I will take fiber,” said Robert Mourik, the chair of BEREC, the body of European telecom watchdogs. “If I don’t have good broadband from any of the traditional means, then great, I’ll have the satellites please.”

But, but, but: Starlink is nonetheless making strides globally. It had 4.6 million customers worldwide in 2024, up from 2.3 million in 2023. IT giant Cloudflare estimated that Starlink traffic grew 3.3 times last year. 

Given the “enormous amount of innovation in satellite space,” 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.

Mathieu and Hanne have the full story (and the data) here.

GOODBYE AILD, WE HARDLY KNEW YOU: The European Commission had promised early this week to simplify its artificial intelligence regulatory framework and now we know what that looks like: the EU’s AI liability rules are being axed and much more could follow in a digital-focused simplification package at the end of this year. 

Parliament pushback: The AI liability withdrawal was poorly received by lead lawmaker, German center-right politician Axel Voss (who is also a big fan of cutting red tape). He slammed the Commission for choosing “legal uncertainty, corporate power imbalances, and a Wild West approach to AI liability.” Italian socialist lawmaker Brando Benifei, the AI Act lead, joined him and called the decision “disappointing,” saying that “enforcing the AI Act is now more critical than ever.” 

EPP vs. EPP: Tech boss Henna Virkkunen has emerged as the face of the drive to cut back on AI red tape. “Europe needs less bureaucracy and more space for innovation and entrepreneurship,” she said on Instagram of the work program. Virkkunen—who is from the European People’s Party—now faces pushback from Voss, who is also EPP. 

Industry applauds, civil society not: Daniel Friedlaender of Big Tech lobby CCIA said it was “laudable” that the Commission is willing “to review past work” but complained that “little effort” was made to streamline existing rules. 

Laura Lazaro Cabrera, of the non-profit Center for Democracy and Technology, said that the withdrawal is “sending an alarming message that even the most basic procedural safeguards are fair play in the rush to embrace innovation.”

It could come back from the dead: At a Wednesday press conference, Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič signaled that the AI liability rules could survive after all. Putting it on the withdrawal list is an “invitation” to the co-legislators to tell the Commission they want it after all, he said.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM: How much would it take for Europe to develop its own vertical stack of technologies to ensure autonomy from other regions (such as the U.S.) and increase its competitiveness? At least €300 billion in the next decade, according to the over 100-page EuroStack report, which was published today. 

That’s a lot less than the €5 trillion previously estimated by the Chamber of Progress, a U.S. trade group.

What is it? The EuroStack initiative, led by an unusual alliance of academics and policymakers, aims to bring together Europe’s strengths across tech to drive self-reliance and innovation. It proposes a €300 billion sovereignty fund to be governed by a novel structure under the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass. The first €150 billion of that should be deployed between 2025 to 2030.

The report published today was commissioned by German think tank Bertelsmann Stiftung in cooperation with University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, the Centre for European Policy Studies and Stiftung Mercator.

What is in it? According to the EuroStack report, the underlying technologies to be developed are AI, cloud computing, connectivity, electronic identification, data access, the Internet of Things and digital currencies, as well as “energy-efficient public computing capacity” and chips to support AI development. Rare earths and critical raw materials also get mentions. It sees potential applications for healthcare, manufacturing and other industries. 

How to do it? The report proposes creating a chief EuroStack officer role to oversee the process. A steering committee made up of EU institutions, member countries, industry, academia and civil society, will appoint the CEO. The committee will meet quarterly. An “advisory board of independent experts will provide guidance on technical, ethical, and policy matters” to the CEO, the report said.

DC CALLING: EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen was told to set up a briefing on the Digital Services Act with U.S. lawmakers by 4 p.m. on Thursday. Who set that deadline? The chair of the U.S. Congress Judiciary Committee, Republican Jim Jordan, in a late-January letter, expressing concerns about how the DSA affects free speech across the Atlantic. As of Wednesday afternoon, Virkkunen had not responded to Jordan’s letter, but she will “in due course” Commission spokesperson Thomas Reigner told Morning Tech.

ALARM BELLS FOR BERLIN: Russia-backed campaigns to discredit Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union ruling party and the Greens, have broken into the mainstream, says research by non-profit think tank CeMAS, CORRECTIV, Newsguard and Gnida Project to be published today and shared with Morning Tech. The campaign by a group known as Storm 1516 is spreading allegations that the CDU and Greens are sexually abusing minors. Some videos on TikTok have been seen hundreds of thousands of times, whereas one has 1.7 million views. The content has also been spreading widely on Facebook, X and Telegram.

SPAIN TAKES THE HELM: Spain’s National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) will be chairing the European Media Services Board, which came to life on Saturday. The director of Spain’s CNMC, Carlos Aguilar, will be the president, and Amma Asante of the Dutch media authority, will be the vice-president. The board oversees the implementation of the European Media Freedom Act.

“One problem is that the referee never wins. The second problem is that … no one really likes the referee.”

— LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman told an event in Paris that Europe is the referee in the global AI race. He argued that’s not a good thing.

COMMISSION: Tech sovereignty boss Henna Virkkunen has a call with Dutch Economy Minister Dirk Beljaarts. Competition boss Teresa Ribeira meets with BEUC’s Agustín Reyna.

PARLIAMENT: The final day of plenary has a debate on critical communications infrastructure.

Adobe launches an AI video tool to compete with OpenAI. Reuters.

Ex-Google chief warns the West to focus on open-source AI in competition with China. FT.

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