Home > News

IRIS² Gives Starlink Competition in Europe

By Crystal Crowder
Starlink satellite train.

When you think about satellites and Internet, Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink satellites are probably the first things that come to mind. Thanks to the recent contract for IRIS² in Europe, Starlink may soon have serious competition.

Starlink Currently Controls Most Satellites

While Starlink satellites have been beneficial in numerous ways, Musk’s project isn’t always perfect. Plus, it’s become a monopoly, with approximately two-thirds of all satellites belonging to Starlink. Musk has even stated nearly 90 percent of satellite Internet traffic in 2025 will be from the more than 6,000 Starlink satellites in space.

Starlink satellite launching into space.
Image source: Unsplash

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) is growing tired of a single company controlling so much Internet traffic. The FCC wants to see far more competition in the satellite Internet market to help lower prices for consumers and help spur better innovation in the industry.

IRIS2 Enters the Ring to Battle Starlink

IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) will start as a system of 290 satellites utilizing both Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites. It was developed by and for the European Union to offer more secure and reliable Internet to governmental agencies.

However, it’s not going to be limited to just the government. It will also be available to businesses and citizens throughout the EU and all Member States. It’s the EU’s solution to broadband dead spots and security issues.

The EU Commission officially signed the concession contract with the SpaceRISE consortium to implement IRIS2. SpaceRISE is comprised of three major European satellite companies, including Hispasat S.A., Eutelsat SA, and SES SA, along with notable satcom contractors.

European Commission building and flags.
Image source: Pexels

By establishing an entire ecosystem of satcom companies, the goal is to encourage even more innovation, unlike Starlink. The project even has both private and public funding.

Currently, the contract lasts for 12 years, with the EU hoping to see IRIS2 providing major progress and connectivity in dead zones and rural areas by 2030. As studies have shown, Internet access actually boosts well-being.

Europe Could Become Next Satellite Connectivity Giant

I know 290 satellites doesn’t sound like much compared to the Starlink’s thousands, but Starlink didn’t start with that huge of a number. At the moment, it definitely feels like a monopoly in the industry.

Despite how useful Starlink has been, including helping those in my own home state of North Carolina after Hurricane Helene devastated the western counties, it could use some serious competition to encourage more innovation. Plus, satellite connectivity shouldn’t be limited to a single entity. Consumers deserve options, including more competitive pricing.

With Europe stepping in with the IRIS2 satellite constellation, it proves other countries aren’t willing to simply rely on Starlink for everything; they want to create their own technology. As a result, I could easily see other countries developing their own versions.

Will IRIS2 come to the U.S.? Possibly, but don’t expect it anytime soon. I’m sure Musk will fight to prevent that from happening, similar to his threat to Apple over ChatGPT, but I suspect more exciting news in the satellite Internet niche could be right around the corner.

If you aren’t fond of monopolies either, consider these Google search alternatives to move away from the search giant.

Image credit: Unsplash

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox

Crystal Crowder Avatar
Crystal Crowder
Crystal Crowder has spent over 15 years working in the tech industry, first as an IT technician and then as a writer. She works to help teach others how to get the most from their devices, systems, and apps. She stays on top of the latest trends and is always finding solutions to common tech problems.

Read next

Octopuses possess roughly 500 million neurons distributed across their body, with two-thirds located in their arms rather than their central brain, meaning each arm can taste, problem-solve, and react to stimuli independently of whatever the octopus is otherwise paying attention to.
Explore the historic Roman bridge in lush Salamanca, Spain captured beautifully in daylight.
The Roman aqueduct at Segovia, built around the first century AD without mortar, still carried water into the 1970s, its 167 granite arches held together by nothing but the precise weight distribution of stones cut to fit each other within fractions of a millimeter.
When the SS Great Eastern laid the first working transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866, a message that had taken ten days by steamship suddenly crossed the ocean in minutes, and the financial markets of London and New York were forced, within a single trading week, to invent the modern concept of synchronised global price.
From below of blue starry sky over radio telescope and trees with leaves
The Big Ear telescope was scanning at 1420.4056 megahertz on the night of 15 August 1977, the exact frequency at which hydrogen atoms vibrate across the universe, because Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison had argued years earlier that any species trying to be found would broadcast on that channel — and then, for 72 seconds, something did.
In 2016, archaeologists dated two rings of snapped stalagmites in France’s Bruniquel Cave to 176,500 years ago, evidence that Neanderthals had walked 336 metres into darkness with fire and built architecture deep underground long before modern humans reached Europe
Otto von Bismarck was 74 when Germany adopted the world’s first national old-age social insurance program in 1889, setting the pension age at 70 after years of fighting socialists with bans, laws, and a promise few workers would live long enough to use
When cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov stepped out of his Soyuz capsule in March 1995 after 437 consecutive days aboard Mir, doctors recorded him at several centimetres above his pre-flight height, and his spine had become so unaccustomed to gravity that the recovery team carried him to a chair rather than risk the compression of letting him walk.
When Bell Labs engineer Karl Jansky pointed a rotating antenna at the sky in 1932 looking for sources of transatlantic radio static, he kept picking up a faint hiss that peaked every 23 hours and 56 minutes, and he eventually realized he had become the first human to hear the center of the Milky Way.