What is this black market that Starlink is cracking down on ?

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In regions such as Europe or North America, more and more people are opting for the Starlink solution. But, elsewhere, there are many countries in which SpaceX's satellite connection service is not available. If you look at the Starlink availability map, you will notice that it still only covers very few African and Asian countries. Additionally, SpaceX has no intention of launching Starlink in countries like China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela or Cuba.

A real black market has therefore developed, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, to allow residents of countries not covered by Starlink to still benefit from its connection via satellites. According to the American media, some users purchased the Starlink kit in a country where the service is available. Others would go through intermediary services which offer to buy the Starlink antenna and activate it, before sending it to countries where Starlink is not officially available.

Starlink has started to crack down

In any case, according to the WSJ, Starlink has finally decided to crack down. According to the newspaper, users in South Africa, Sudan and Zimbabwe recently received an email from Starlink, explaining that by the end of the month they will no longer be able to connect via the service's satellites. In this letter, it would be reminded that using Starlink in countries where it has not obtained the green light from the authorities is prohibited by the conditions of use.

In some African countries, the authorities have already informed that it is illegal to use Starlink. In March, Starlink reported that it is now available in 72 countries worldwide. And the satellite connection service has more than 2.7 million users.

• A black market is emerging is developed to access Starlink in countries where satellite communications service is not officially available
• But SpaceX has decided to crack down, cutting off access to Starlink in the countries concerned
• Starlink is now present in 72 countries

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