Russia plans to impose fines on those who subscribe to Western-based satellite internet services. The bill notably targets SpaceX's Starlink service.
Subscribing to SpaceX's Starlink internet service in Russia will be possible, but beware of penalties. According to a report by the Russian edition of Popular Mechanics , the State Duma (the Lower House of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation) plans to impose fines ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 rubles (about 110 to 430 euros) for individuals and 500 000 to 1 million rubles (about 5500 to 11,000 euros) for legal entities that will rely on Western services for their internet access via satellites.
To justify the announcement, Duma members say such access would hamper the country's operational research system, which monitors internet usage and mobile communications. As part of the country's strict control over media and communications, all Russian internet traffic must pass through a Russian communications provider.
For now, the most advanced constellation project remains that of SpaceX (Starlink), which plans to deploy at least 12,000 satellites over the next few years in the aim of offering global high-speed Internet access. SpaceX therefore seems to be particularly targeted by this bill. This is not very surprising, insofar as the country's space chief, Dmitry Rogozin, considers this company a real rival.
Rogozin has indeed already strongly criticized NASA and the US Department of Defense for subsidizing SpaceX through government contracts. Also for Russia, the Starlink constellation would present itself as an additional body to the American special forces making it possible to serve the military interests of the country. Further, Rogozin also called SpaceX's claim that Starlink was created in order to provide high-speed internet service to the most remote regions of Earth "nonsense".
Note that this bill is not just about SpaceX. Amazon, for example, also plans to launch broadband satellites as part of its Kuiper project. The OneWeb Company, recently saved from bankruptcy, has also already released several dozen of the 650 planned in its fleet.
The case of OneWeb is also interesting, in that the company relies on Russian Soyuz rockets to launch most of its satellites into orbit. Launches are also planned for this year. Also, OneWeb is helping support the struggling Russian launch industry.
In the meantime, note that Russia is also preparing its own fleet of satellites allowing high-speed internet provision. This project, known as "Sphere", could see the light of day as early as 2024.
