«Black» Starlink — terminals are sold in bulk illegally around the world [Bloomberg investigation]

Starlink advertises its high-speed Internet as «available almost anywhere in the world», but in practice its distribution officially ends in territories where the company does not yet have a permit to operate or in countries with repressive regimes. At the same time Bloomberg investigation has found numerous examples of Elon Musk’s satellite Internet service being used in «prohibited» places around the world.

The terminals are smuggled in and traded on black markets, calling into question SpaceX’s ability to control their distribution. In 2023, it was reported that Starlink on the frontline had somehow already began to be used by the Russians — the direct or indirect sale of terminals to the occupiers was categorically denied by Elon Musk.

According to the publication’s report, Starlink is actively used in Yemen, which is experiencing a decade-long civil war, as well as in Sudan, where the regular Internet has been down for several months. Meanwhile, government decisions against illegal terminals in Kazakhstan this year have had little effect on their use, but have only raised prices on the black market.

Starlink kits are also sold in Venezuela, where individuals and entities have been subject to U.S. sanctions for nearly a decade under the authoritarian rule of President Nicolas Maduro. The coverage map on Starlink’s website shows the South American country blacked out, but social media ads offer package deals for Starlink equipment as widely available.

In Musk’s home country of South Africa, the government has yet to approve Starlink’s application to operate, but the terminal trade is booming. Facebook groups feature vendors offering to purchase and activate kits in one of the 8 African countries where Starlink is legal and then ship them across the border (the same is true in Yemen, where kits are purchased in countries like Singapore or Malaysia and then activated while roaming). In Venezuela, customers get around the ban by paying for the global service rate with an international credit card.

According to a former US government official, President Joe Biden’s administration may tighten the export controls that apply to Starlink to keep them out of the hands of US adversaries.

• Starlink provides Internet access through a network of about 5,500 satellites that SpaceX began deploying in 2019. Currently, 2.6 million customers use the service, and last year Musk said that the company reached break-even for the first time (in 2020, he announced the IPO of its satellite Internet business, if «income growth becomes smooth and predictable»).
• Since last year, Starlink has been in the spotlight becauseprovides Ukraine with satellite communications — important in the context of countering Russian military aggression. In December, the Ministry of Digital Transformation reported that the country currently has 47 thousand terminals are in operation.
• At the same time, Elon Musk has previously stated that his technology should be used only for peaceful purposes, and even ignored Ukraine’s request to activate the Internet near Crimeaand thwarted a potential attack on the Russian fleet. In the end, the Pentagoncommitted to purchase terminals for the Armed Forces of Ukrainethat will work where needed, and in September 2023 announced that it had signed a contract with Starlink to provide services to support Ukraine without disclosing further details.