With SpaceX having activated Starlink service in Iran last month, activists have started smuggling Starlink user terminals into the country as the conflict between Iran’s theocratic government and its people rages on — reports TIME.
Starlink is a high-speed internet service that is powered by a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit and doesn’t need terrestrial connections to function. A Starlink terminal on the ground connects to and communicates with orbiting satellites, providing (impressively fast) internet access.
Iran was tossed into unrest following the suspicious September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the government’s “morality police.” According to reports, more than 200 people have already been killed by Iranian security in the protests that have erupted since.
Iran’s authoritarian regime is actively censoring the masses, cutting off internet access for much of the day in Tehran and other popular centers. The government has even shut down Instagram and started heavily filtering other platforms.
A prominent Iranian activist has called access to Starlink “incredibly important.” Protestors need to be able to communicate amongst themselves and provide the rest of the world with an unabridged account of what’s happening.
The hope is that Starlink will help restore and maintain unfettered connectivity in the country, similar to how the service has helped Ukraine keep communications systems online after the Russian invasion cut off internet access in many areas.
Activists have “already sent dozens of [Starlink] terminals to Iran and intend to scale up.”
2. These efforts are still *very* nascent, but they have evidence the terminals are working and claim they're taking extra precautions to lessen the risks to users. Videos have also begun trickling out of Starlink terminals being used inside the country. pic.twitter.com/drjFamxjB3
— Karim Sadjadpour (@ksadjadpour) October 21, 2022
“It’s safer not to say anything about the numbers. I don’t want them to know what to look for, the scale,” said an activist who confirmed the arrival of the first Starlink dishes in Iran to TIME. “Let them wonder.”
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet last week that there were “very few” active Starlink terminals in Iran so far.
Very few in Iran so far
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2022
According to the activist, there has been “no Starlink donation” directly from SpaceX so far, and the U.S. government hasn’t been involved either. That said, the Biden Administration has reportedly approached Musk and SpaceX about the possibility of setting up Starlink in Iran.
Even with a joint effort from SpaceX and the White House, however, getting Starlink hardware across the Iranian border and into the hands of civilians en masse could prove harder than deployment in Ukraine, where SpaceX had help from the government and military.
What’s more, Starlink terminals already online in Iran would have to remain hidden from the watchful regime — not the easiest feat, given the dishes have to be placed on rooftops with a clear view of the sky.
The activist told TIME that’s a problem. “Starlinks are not ready for countries with hostile governments,” they said. “The company needs to do more to make them more practical and safer for people who live in these countries.”
SpaceX is still fending off cyberattacks intended to disrupt service in Ukraine, and the company is working to make its terminals and the signals they use to communicate with satellites harder to detect.
