Starlink now fully available in Kazakhstan
How far does SpaceX's compromise with the government really go?
On August 13, both SpaceX and the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan announced the news: Starlink is now officially available across the country in full scope.
At first glance, it looks like just another country joining Starlink’s coverage map. But in reality, this story carries far more weight — with details that may matter not only for Kazakhstan but also for Ukraine.
Kazakhstan’s Specifics
Kazakhstan is a country with a strict policy of controlling domestic telecommunications and the information space. I won’t debate here how democratic or free that approach is — I’ll leave that to readers. But one thing is certain: no global operator has managed to enter Kazakhstan without agreeing to some form of user traffic oversight. Building local data centers and ground stations has long been a publicly declared government requirement. Put simply: in times of internal unrest, the state demands access to an “internet switch” — and not just that.
At the same time, Kazakhstan is huge: more than 4.5 times the size of Ukraine, yet with only half the population. I have personally traveled across Kazakhstan to conduct training in its remote regions. It is a vast country, and the overwhelming majority of its territory has extremely low population density. As a result, terrestrial telecom infrastructure in sparsely inhabited areas always requires enormous investment. That is why satellite internet in the digital era is, quite literally, what the doctor ordered: access to the network without spending huge sums on cable-based solutions.
For years, I have closely followed the development of relations between Kazakhstan’s government and operators like Starlink, OneWeb, SES, Amazon Kuiper, and even China’s Spacesail. After a successful pilot project with Starlink, aiming to provide about 2,000 remote schools with internet access, cooperation stalled — and at one point, there was even a risk that Starlink would never launch in Kazakhstan. The main reason was differences over user-access control and Starlink’s refusal at the time to meet all the government’s requirements. Then, suddenly, everything changed…
A Broken Paradigm?
Elon Musk has long been famous for declaring his principle of “internet without restrictions.” Whenever countries demanded strict controls — including censorship, monitoring, or access management not publicly acknowledged — Musk refused to comply. He also consistently rejected demands for governments to hold equity stakes in local Starlink subsidiaries. Many admired this consistency.
But then… either ‘business is business’ or something simply changed.
Public details remain scarce, but certain countries whose requirements clearly did not fit Musk’s known paradigm suddenly agreed to grant Starlink access to their national markets, declaring that ‘everything was settled.’
The exact conditions SpaceX accepted remain unknown.
What we do know: in Kazakhstan, Deputy Minister of Digital Development Dmitry Moon stated to LS that “on June 12, 2025, an agreement was signed obliging the company to comply with Kazakhstan’s laws in providing services. This means that relevant servers will be located on the territory of Kazakhstan.”
Meanwhile, Eutelsat OneWeb had already fulfilled similar requirements in full: it built a ground station in Kokterek, integrated it into Kazakhstan’s network infrastructure, and created a regional LEO services integration hub for Central Asia.
As for Starlink, beyond official statements from Kazakh officials, little is publicly known.
What is clear: IEC Telecom Group has obtained official Starlink reseller status in Kazakhstan — something no company in Ukraine has achieved so far.
Open Questions
This raises difficult questions:
Will Starlink users in Kazakhstan be limited to what is available only through the national network?
Does this affect all users, including roaming ones, or only those connected via local resellers?
Will, for example, a European journalist’s Starlink terminal still work in Kazakhstan if the government shuts down internet access during unrest?
If a northern neighbor launches a drone carrying a Starlink terminal bought in the UAE, will it function in Kazakh airspace?
At the moment, we only know that Starlink’s services in Kazakhstan will comply with the government’s control requirements. Exactly what SpaceX gave up — and what Kazakhstan compromised on — is not yet clear.
Why It Matters for Ukraine
This is not just a Kazakh story. The precedent matters directly for Ukraine.
It is no secret that the russian aggressor uses Starlink, even mounting terminals on drones, not to mention its use in occupied territories. If Ukraine does not want the enemy to enjoy the advantages of Starlink — or to target our critical infrastructure more effectively — then the only path is regulation and control.
There are multiple ways to achieve this, but all of them begin with one step: the Ukrainian government must formulate specific requirements, and SpaceX must agree to them.
Will this mean localized traffic landing? Official resellers? Other arrangements? We don’t yet know. But the Kazakh precedent shows that even Starlink can be pressed to adapt.
Final Note
Kazakhstan’s experience shows: even Starlink bends to the demands of states.
For Ukraine, this is both a warning and an opportunity. The time has come to formalize our requirements for SpaceX — and it is better to do it today than tomorrow.
Because if Elon Musk can compromise in Astana, then Kyiv must also be part of that conversation.
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