Speedtest data across 27 European markets shows LEO broadband gaining ground where fiber, cable, and fixed wireless still leave gaps.

Europe’s broadband story can look close to complete from a national coverage chart. Fiber networks are expanding, gigabit targets are embedded in policy, and many households now have much faster fixed broadband than they did a few years ago. The harder question is what happens at the edge of that progress.

Starlink’s role as a low-Earth orbit broadband provider is clearest in those remaining gaps. Across Europe, the service is most visible where fixed networks are delayed, weaker, difficult to extend, or needed as backup. That includes islands, farms, mountain communities, seasonal homes, remote businesses, and rural premises still waiting for planned upgrades.

Key Takeaways

• Starlink got faster in most European markets. Starlink’s median download speed across all 27 countries rose from 114.05 Mbps in Q1 2025 to 165.71 Mbps in Q1 2026, up 45%. Download speed improved in 26 of the 27 markets.
• Usage is most visible where fixed broadband leaves more gaps. Bulgaria had the highest Starlink Speedtest sample share at 8%, followed by Greece and Croatia at 6% each, Ireland and Latvia at 4% each.
• Terrestrial fixed broadband still has major advantages. Starlink was faster than the average fixed network on median download speed in 11 of 27 markets, but fixed networks had lower latency in every market and stronger upload performance in 26.
• Satellite broadband is becoming a broader European category. While Starlink is the most visible direct-to-consumer low Earth orbit (LEO) provider, Eutelsat OneWeb, Amazon Leo, and Europe’s IRIS² program point to a wider satellite connectivity market starting to emerge.

Starlink speeds improved across most of Europe

Starlink’s performance backdrop is much stronger than it was just a year ago. SpaceX’s 2025 Progress Report said it connected more than 4.6 million new active customers during 2025 and operated more than 9,000 active satellites by year-end. This scale is showing up in our European consumer-initiated performance data, with investments in constellation and ground station expansion driving improved real-world outcomes.

Across the 27 measured markets combined, Starlink’s median speed in Q1 2026 was 165.71 Mbps on download, 24.10 Mbps on upload, and 49 ms on multi-server latency. Latvia led on median download speed at 232.51 Mbps, followed by Greece at 196.31 Mbps and Croatia at 188.02 Mbps. Cyprus, Poland, and Latvia posted the largest year-on-year download gains, rising by 159.53 Mbps, 134.31 Mbps, and 104.38 Mbps respectively.

Bulgaria was the main exception. It had the highest Starlink sample share in Q1 2026, but the weakest Starlink median download speed at 61.06 Mbps. It was also the only measured market where Starlink download speed was lower than a year earlier, down 5%. This combination suggests heavy or concentrated demand can still strain available satellite capacity in some locations.

Hard-to-reach homes continue to drive satellite adoption

Our data shows that the pattern of satellite adoption is more nuanced than a rural map. Starlink uptake is strongest where fixed broadband options are weaker, delayed, or uneven.

Greece is the clearest example of Starlink filling a gap while terrestrial upgrades continue. Starlink recorded a median download speed of 196.31 Mbps in Q1 2026, compared with the national median of 94.29 Mbps across all fixed networks. Greece also had the second-highest Starlink sample share at 6%. This is not surprising in a country dominated by islands, mountains and dispersed settlements, which has made universal high-speed fixed coverage harder, slower, and more expensive to deliver, even as the country’s National Broadband Plan targets at least 100 Mbps service, upgradeable to gigabit, for all buildings.

Latvia showed a similar gap from a different starting point. Starlink reached a median download speed of 232.51 Mbps there in the same period, 85.64 Mbps faster than the national median. Latvia’s digital connectivity strategy targets equal, high-quality connectivity across the country, while public support focuses on areas where operators lack the economic case to deploy.

Ireland and the UK, by contrast, illustrate how Starlink can sit alongside fiber-led policy. Ireland’s National Broadband Plan — one of the largest state investments in rural broadband anywhere in the developed world — covers more than 560,000 premises, 1.1 million people, over 65,000 farms, 44,000 non-farm businesses, and 679 schools. Despite this, the country ranked fourth for Starlink adoption in Europe in Q1 2026, likely reflecting usage in the areas still waiting for fiber and as a resilient backup option to mitigate against what have become regular fiber line faults during recent winter storms.

The UK, meanwhile, has moved toward a more explicit hybrid model through Project Gigabit, government LEO trials, and a BT Group Starlink agreement for the UK’s hardest-to-reach places. It ranked tenth in Europe for Starlink sample share in the latest quarter, and featured among the best responsiveness outcomes on the service with median multi-server latency of 37 ms, likely a byproduct of the dense ground station and traffic breakout ecosystem there.

Fast, price-competitive fixed networks still limit Starlink’s role in Europe

Starlink’s best European results do not make it a broad replacement for strong fixed broadband. In markets with mature fiber, cable, or high-speed fixed broadband, its footprint is much smaller.

Seven measured markets had Starlink sample share below 1% in Q1 2026: Denmark, Malta, Finland, Romania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Slovenia. In that below-1% group, Starlink trailed the national median download speed by 81.82 Mbps on average.

Romania, however, is an exception to this rural story, with Starlink sample share below 1% despite a large rural population and a national fixed median download speed of 283.06 Mbps. This reflects a history of heavy investment and dense fiber penetration in Romania led by fiber-first DIGI, which has delivered gigabit speeds to a very large share of the population at very low retail prices.

Spain, Europe’s fiber darling, also shows how strong fixed networks and targeted public satellite programs can limit Starlink’s mass-market role. Spain’s national median download speed was 277.98 Mbps in Q1 2026, 110.24 Mbps faster than Starlink. Its Conectate35 satellite program offers rural satellite broadband where fixed terrestrial coverage is missing, which makes satellite more of a targeted coverage tool than a mainstream substitute.

Europe’s LEO broadband market is broadening beyond Starlink

While Starlink is the most visible residential low Earth orbit broadband provider in Europe, it is part of a wider satellite connectivity market. Eutelsat OneWeb operates a 600-plus satellite LEO network focused more on enterprise, government, mobility, and backhaul. Amazon Leo began full-scale deployment in April 2025 and had more than 300 satellites deployed by late April 2026, although it has yet to appear as a European residential broadband force in our Speedtest data.

Europe is also building a sovereign satellite layer through IRIS², which is designed around secure, sovereign-controlled government connectivity. These services are different, but together they show why satellite broadband is moving beyond a niche conversation about one dish on one remote home.

Satellite is the latest tool in the broadband delivery suite

The consumer takeaway is straightforward. Starlink is becoming a credible home broadband option in parts of Europe where fixed networks are weak, delayed, expensive to extend, or needed as backup. It is strongest where the last few percent of premises are hardest to serve.

It remains a complement to fiber-led policy, with a smaller role in mature fixed markets. Where fiber, cable, or fixed wireless are fast, affordable, and widely adopted, Starlink remains a smaller part of the market. Where those networks thin out, the Starlink data shows where Europe’s hardest broadband problems still live.

Stay tuned for a follow-up analysis that will examine where LEO broadband fits in Europe’s long-term connectivity mix, including rural subsidy design, backup and resilience use cases, routing performance, and the role of Starlink and other satellite providers in serving the hardest to reach premises.