Elon Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink has begun undercutting traditional broadband providers in the UK after rolling out aggressive price cuts, intensifying competition in Britain’s fixed-line market.
Starlink is now offering high-speed broadband for as little as £35 a month in selected parts of the UK, down from a previous entry-level price of £55. The move places the satellite service below comparable packages from BT, which charges around £40 a month, and Virgin Media O2, whose equivalent service is priced at £36.
Even when Starlink’s £94 installation fee is factored in, analysts note that the service remains cheaper than BT over a typical 24-month contract. The package offers download speeds of around 100Mbps, placing it firmly in the “ultrafast” category suitable for streaming, gaming and video calls across multiple devices.
The price cuts mark a significant escalation in Starlink’s push into the UK broadband market and are expected to accelerate customer churn away from established providers.
James Ratzer, an analyst at New Street Research, said the move was a clear warning shot for the sector. “Starlink is becoming an incremental player in the UK broadband market, and this will put further pressure on BT through Openreach line losses, and to a lesser extent on Virgin Media O2,” he said.
Openreach, which is wholly owned by BT, maintains the physical broadband network used by most UK internet service providers. Any sustained loss of customers to satellite or wireless alternatives could weaken its long-term economics.
The timing of Starlink’s price cuts is awkward for BT, which is already facing scrutiny over its digital landline switchover after reports that some elderly and vulnerable customers were left without connectivity over the Christmas period. If such problems are found to be widespread, the company could face regulatory attention from Ofcom.
Starlink, part of SpaceX, operates a constellation of roughly 9,500 low-earth orbit satellites, enabling it to deliver broadband to remote and rural areas that are poorly served by fixed-line networks. The service is also being explored as a solution for patchy connectivity on railways and other transport routes.
As of mid-2025, Starlink had around 110,000 UK customers. Analysts believe that figure could rise to as many as 350,000 in the coming years, more than 1 per cent of the total broadband market, as prices fall and coverage expands.
Until recently, Starlink’s premium pricing limited its appeal to rural households and niche users. The new £35 tariff, introduced just two months after the company cut its standard monthly price from £75 to £55, suggests a deliberate shift towards mass-market competition.
The competitive pressure is also being fuelled by the expected arrival of a rival satellite service from Jeff Bezos, with Amazon preparing to launch its Project Kuiper (sometimes dubbed Amazon Leo) later this year.
Satellite broadband and fixed wireless access are increasingly being seen as viable alternatives to traditional fibre and copper networks. New Street Research has previously estimated that subscriptions to conventional broadband services could fall by 250,000 in a single year, the first decline on record.
In response, established telecoms groups are hedging their bets. BT has partnered with Starlink to serve remote rural areas, while O2 has struck a broader deal with Musk’s company that includes plans for a direct-to-mobile satellite service. Vodafone, meanwhile, has teamed up with AST SpaceMobile and recently received regulatory approval to begin testing satellite-based mobile connectivity in the UK.
As price competition intensifies, Starlink’s latest move signals that Britain’s broadband market is entering a new phase, one in which space-based networks are no longer a niche solution, but a direct challenger to the country’s flagship telecoms brands.
