SpaceX’s Starlink is facing anger from Poland over a new restriction that can block the country’s subscribers from using the satellite internet service in other parts of Europe. 

The restriction has prompted Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski to threaten pulling funds from SpaceX. “Hey, @elonmusk, 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 tweet, referencing how Poland has been spending millions per year to fund Starlink access in Ukraine, which continues to face invasion from Russia.  


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The controversy deals with last month’s changes to the Roam plans for Starlink, which lets customers use the satellite internet service outside their home country. A subscriber on the top-tier Roam Unlimited plan can still receive service internationally. But for customers on the lower-tier Roam 100GB and Roam 300GB plans, the satellite broadband is restricted to their “grouped region.”

For users stateside, the grouped region covers both the US and Canada. In Europe, the region covers over 30 countries and territories across the continent, meaning a customer can continue using Starlink on their lower-tier Roam plan through most of the major neighboring markets, excluding Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. 

But it looks like SpaceX quietly revised the grouped region for Europe. In a support document, the company now says: “ Poland is not included in the Europe region above. Accounts registered in Poland are treated as Poland-only for home-country use.”

support page

(Starlink.com)

To use Starlink outside the country, a user in Poland needs to subscribe to the more expensive Roam Unlimited Plan, which costs $123/month compared to $50/month for the Roam 100GB plan. The other issue is that subscribers will need to submit their passport information and a live portrait to the company to use Roam outside Poland. It doesn’t appear customers in other parts of Europe need to follow the same travel registration process. 

SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment; the support document also doesn’t explain the change. But some have been speculating the restriction is related to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. SpaceX has been working with the Ukrainian government to crack down on the Russian military from using smuggled or stolen Starlink equipment on the battlefield. At the same time, Ukraine has been fitting Starlink hardware on military drones to help guide them. 

Tim Belfall, a director at UK-based Starlink installer Westend WiFi, noted that “brokers based in Poland” often inquire about trying to procure tens of thousands of Starlink Mini dishes. “I immediately shut down these requests as it’s plainly obvious the Starlink terminals are intended for military use in the Ukraine-Russia conflict,” Belfall wrote on LinkedIn.

Belfall also points out that modifying the Starlink equipment for military use falls under US export controls, as mentioned by the SpaceX’s own terms of service. “Embedding US technology into weaponised drones, or use in battlefield communications, without US Government EAR/ITAR authority is a big no no,” he added. “So if I have a theory as to why Poland is excluded from the European Roaming group, it’s because this is the bare minimum to prevent use of Starlink Mini in a neighbouring conflict zone, however briefly.”

In the meantime, the controversy might re-spark some animosity between Musk and Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski, who were involved in another spat on X/Twitter last year over concerns SpaceX could turn off Starlink access in Ukraine.

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