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If you're resident in a country where StarLink is legal (like Mozambique), you can procure the service and then roam in a country where it's illegal like South
by nroets 2y ago
If you're resident in a country where StarLink is legal (like Mozambique), you can procure the service and then roam in a country where it's illegal like South Africa. I don't think that will ever change.
StarLink's definition of "resident" and "roaming" might change a little bit over time.
StarLink has been quite good in surrounding the countries where they stand to make a lot of money (like South Africa) with "friendly" countries. So, due to roaming, South Africa is losing out on a lot of tax revenue (VAT) and other economic benefits. Speculation is that they will give in.
- lxgr 2y agoAre you sure this is still true? I remember hearing that this used to be the case, but this is a pretty blatant violation of international law and regulations, and I think by now roaming is also technically disabled in countries that didn't grant them a license. Their own support site is a bit ambiguous: > If your new location is not in an authorized territory (marked "Available" or "Waitlist" on the Starlink map), your service may be immediately suspended.
- nroets 2y agoI have no first hand knowledge, but there are some news articles and forum posts on https://www.mybroadband.co.za/ https://www.mybroadband.co.za/ that will give you an indication of how StarLink is handling it. Surely international law can't force StarLink to detect where their terminals are. Or force StarLink to block their signals from leaking into neighbouring countries. They won't market or distribute their terminals in countries where it is illegal. So it's up to customs to seize terminals when they cross the borders or communications regulators to seize terminals after they came in. At this stage, I think StarLink is clamping down on roaming because they don't want to jeopardize their negotiations with the SA government.