"Black" Starlink - terminals are massively sold illegally around the world [Bloomberg investigation]

Starlink advertises its high-speed internet as "available almost anywhere on Earth," but in practice its distribution officially ends in territories where the company has not yet obtained permission to operate, or in countries where repressive regimes are in power. At the same time, Bloomberg's investigation has uncovered numerous examples of the use of Elon Musk's satellite internet service in "forbidden" places around the world.

Terminals are smuggled in and traded on black markets, casting doubt on SpaceX's ability to control their distribution. In 2023, it was reported that Russians had somehow started using Starlink on the front lines — direct or indirect sale of terminals to occupiers was vehemently denied by Elon Musk at the time.

According to the report, Starlink is actively used in Yemen, which is experiencing a decade-long civil war, as well as in Sudan, where regular internet has not been working for several months. Meanwhile, government decisions against illegal terminals in Kazakhstan this year have hardly affected their usage, only raising prices on the black market.

Starlink kits are also sold in Venezuela, where individuals and entities have been under US sanctions for almost ten years, during the authoritarian rule of President Nicolas Maduro. The coverage map on the Starlink website displays the South American country as dimmed, but advertising on social networks offers package deals for Starlink equipment as widely accessible.

In South Africa, where Musk was born, the government has not yet approved Starlink's application to operate, yet the trade in terminals is flourishing. Facebook groups feature suppliers who offer to purchase and activate kits in one of the 8 African countries where Starlink is legal, and then deliver them across the border (the same happens in Yemen, where kits are purchased in countries like Singapore or Malaysia, and then activated while roaming). In Venezuela, customers circumvent the ban by paying the global service fee with an international credit card.

According to a former US official, President Joe Biden's administration may strengthen the export control applied to Starlink to protect them from falling into the hands of American adversaries.

• Starlink provides internet access through a network of approximately 5500 satellites, which SpaceX began deploying in 2019. Currently, the service is used by 2.6 million customers, and last year Musk announced that the company became profitable for the first time (in 2020, he announced the IPO of the satellite internet business, if "revenue growth becomes smooth and predictable").
• Since last year, Starlink has been in the spotlight because it provides Ukraine with satellite communication — crucial in the face of Russian military aggression. In December, the Ministry of Digital Transformation reported that 47,000 terminals are currently operational in the country.
• Meanwhile, Elon Musk has previously stated that his technology should only be used for peaceful purposes, and even ignored Ukraine's request to activate internet near Crimea, thus thwarting a potential attack on the Russian fleet. Eventually, the Pentagon took on the obligation to purchase terminals for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which will operate where necessary, and in September 2023, announced that it had signed a contract with Starlink to provide services to support Ukraine without disclosing additional details.