They’re both targeted towards commercial or government business, which is unfortunate from an individual subscriber perspective. I would love to see a euro competitor to Starlink and Kuiper, so I can unplug my Starlink.

Iris2 looks like a traditional Euro project with a dozen companies from different countries involved, to make sure the funding isn’t concentrated in one country. SpaceX has the advantage of improved integration in comparison.

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 5 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Well. In my opinion it is about substitues for Ukraine.

[–] SrMono@feddit.org 3 points 12 hours ago

https://kyivindependent.com/poland-will-seek-alternatives-if-musk-cuts-ukraines-starlink-access-sikorski-says/ context.

[–] BurningRiver@beehaw.org 1 points 11 hours ago

Not exactly a replacement for Starlink, and it’s not ready yet, but Vodafone just announced buildup of a European direct to device service.

Full disclosure, AST Spacemobile is a US company directly competing with Starlink in this space.

https://www.vodafone.com/news/corporate-and-financial/vodafone-and-ast-space-mobile-sign-agreement-to-create-european-direct-to-device-satellite-service-provider