REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Warsaw could review its annual $50 million spending on Starlink
services after SpaceX abruptly removed Poland from its European roaming zone, Foreign
Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Aug. 12.
“Hey, Elon Musk, big man, stop discriminating Polish users
of Starlink or we might re-think paying you $50 million p.a. for your services,”
Sikorski wrote in a Twitter post.
Starlink’s European roaming zone covers more than 30
countries, including Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, and Lithuania, allowing
customers to carry terminals across borders without restrictions. Polish users
were removed from that zone, and the company has not explained the decision.
That change imposes additional requirements on Poles traveling with Starlink
equipment, Politico
reported.
Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland’s minister of digital affairs,
criticized SpaceX’s treatment of Polish customers and demanded the company
disclose the regulatory basis for the change.
“Poland is not a second-tier market; Polish customers
are not second-tier customers,” he said.
The new limits took effect for new Starlink customers on
July 14 and are scheduled to apply to existing Polish users on Aug. 17. SpaceX
did not respond to a request for comment from Politico.
Polish funding supports more than 29,000 Starlink terminals
operating in Ukraine, which provide communications for the military, including
drone operations. Ukraine’s former digital transformation minister, Mykhailo Fedorov,
said in February that Poland continues to finance those terminals.
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