Russia wants to impose heavy fines for using Musk’s internet

January 17, 2021 Bary Howards

Satellite internet. Relatively fast, modern, stable, even inevitable in various locations, and in conjunction with the names Elon Musk and SpaceX, mainly a very attractive variant of connectivity. An American billionaire is sending one satellite after another into orbit to improve a network called Starlink. Meanwhile, users on Earth are eagerly waiting for the opportunity to try its solution. But he doesn’t just have fans. In addition to earlier allegations that the satellites will “interfere” in the area, entire states are already facing Musk for another reason. For example Russia wants Starlink to be banned altogether on its territory.

What is the reason for such a hard restriction? Since the Internet from SpaceX should compete with other satellite solutions not only technically, but mainly in terms of prices, there is, of course, a huge interest in it. Direct connection to satellite internet and thus breaking ties with terrestrial providers would then make it difficult to control the data transmitted. We probably don’t have to remind you why politicians and security forces would not like this in Russia. Citizens independently connected to the Internet “streaming” from satellites are not an acceptable thing in Vladimir Putin’s country. Russia is therefore implementing a law that is to completely ban Starlink for the direct connection of people and companies in the country.

Moscow authorities boast of potential threats to state security and similar arguments. And potential rebels want to punish with fines. These are built at the level of 10 to 30 thousand rubles (3,000 – 9,000 CZK) for individuals and 500 thousand to one million rubles (150,000 – 300,000 CZK) for companies. The earth may require a signal from the Starlink satellite subsequently he passed through ground nodes. This would again create the possibility of additional control of the transmitted data. Russia in the implementation of the law claims that he wants to build his own systemwhich will compete with it from SpaceX. This is thanks to the cooperation of the Roskosmos corporation with the British company OneWeb. It is said that together they will complete their own solution for satellite internet by 2030. The investment should amount to 300 billion rubles, ie about 88 billion crowns.