Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network is rapidly expanding across the South amid a lack of industry regulation. Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, explains what's at stake.
SASHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Starlink, a subsidiary of Elon Musk's SpaceX, recently sent its satellite No. 10,000 into space.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Ignition. Engines at full power and take off. From 10-10 to 10,000 go to Starlink. Go…
PFEIFFER: Starlink is the dominant force in satellite Internet service worldwide. Its competitors are not even close. And Musk is expanding Starlink to countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, which have historically suffered from infrastructure problems.
What are the pros and cons of this for the Global South? We're going to ask Steve Feldstein this question. He is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Welcome to the program.
STEVE FELDSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
PFEIFFER: Why is it so difficult for satellite internet companies – even the big players in China and Europe – to compete on the level of Starlink?
FELDSTEIN: Well, right now Starlink has a significant advantage when it comes to having many more satellites than any other country, and that's one of the things that allows Starlink to have a greater advantage over other places. Another issue is that Starlink can use SpaceX's reusable rockets, and this gives Starlink a cost advantage over any other supplier. These rockets are much cheaper and much more efficient in terms of launching satellites than other countries.
PFEIFFER: We've seen some countries join in signing agreements with Musk. India is a large country and also has smaller countries such as Bangladesh and Lebanon. But Bolivia, for example, a country with serious infrastructure constraints, refused to partner with Starlink. What do these countries consider when making such decisions?
FELDSTEIN: Yeah, it comes down to a couple of key questions. On the one hand, many countries would indeed benefit from increased connectivity for their populations. And there are many challenges that countries face when they need to go the last mile and provide connectivity to their citizens, especially in rural, hard-to-reach areas. So, Starlink offers a very simple solution to this problem.
But on the other hand, as Bolivia, as well as other countries, have said, there are concerns that relying on one provider, especially one as politically oriented as Starlink owner Elon Musk, could be truly dangerous in terms of a country's sovereignty.
What if Starlink decides to cut off communications, which has already happened in other arenas? What options does this country have then? Questions like these make governments very nervous, especially those whose foreign policies may not be directly related to the United States.
PFEIFFER: Let's talk a little bit more about that. You, of course, described Elon Musk as a politically oriented person. He is a private billionaire and has been very clear about his political ambitions. So why does it matter if someone like him decides who gets access to the Internet and who doesn't?
FELDSTEIN: Well, essentially, in this situation, you're depending on whether you agree with Elon Musk's views, and if he sees things differently, then you may suddenly find yourself in a difficult position.
A good example happened with Ukraine. Ukraine was preparing military operations in Crimea against Russia and used Starlink satellites as a means of facilitating these operations. After a phone call with Russian officials, communications with Starlink suddenly went down and the operation had to be stopped immediately. This is a good example of how broader foreign policy interests take precedence over a country's sovereignty.
PFEIFFER: In terms of rules and regulations, broadband Internet providers have to comply with many of them, but in the satellite Internet industry there are relatively few of them. Why is this?
FELDSTEIN: Well, it's a new industry. This is where you see the regulatory lag catching up with the industry itself. I think over time it will start to gel and become more consistent.
PFEIFFER: But that will probably come with time, or at least more regulation will come with time.
FELDSTEIN: One would think so.
PFEIFFER: If you think there should be more regulation in this sector, why do you think that?
FELDSTEIN: Yes, there are a lot of questions when it comes to standards related to cybersecurity, when it comes to how data is used as part of these systems – to what extent will it be confidential? There are also questions when it comes to surveillance that could potentially be used when it comes to user data.
PFEIFFER: Can you give me one example of a place where you think the lack of regulation is problematic?
FELDSTEIN: A good example would be Zimbabwe, where you have a government-affiliated organization that helped deploy Starlink satellites there through its communications company. It is unclear to what extent citizens are provided with privacy guarantees. And this is where it would be very important to have a regulatory standard for protecting sensitive data.
PFEIFFER: Steve Feldstein is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Thank you.
FELDSTEIN: Thank you for having me.
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