Key facts
- Poland is threatening to reconsider its $50 million annual spending on Starlink.
- The decision follows Starlink's exclusion of Poland from a 30-country European roaming zone.
- Polish users will face additional requirements when traveling with their Starlink terminals.
- Polish officials accuse SpaceX of treating Polish customers as second-tier.
- New roaming rules affect new customers from July 14 and existing users from August 17.
Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has threatened to reconsider the country's $50 million annual expenditure on Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service. The move comes amid a growing government backlash over new roaming restrictions that will affect Polish customers later this month.
Sikorski directly addressed Musk on X, stating, “Hey, @elonmusk, big man, stop discriminating Polish users of Starlink or we might re-think paying you $50 million p.a. for your services.” The anger stems from Starlink's decision to exclude Poland from a shared European roaming zone that encompasses over 30 countries, including Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, and Lithuania. Customers within this zone can use their terminals across borders without international-use restrictions, a privilege Polish users will now lack.
Starlink's current guidance states, “Note: Poland is not included in the Europe region above. Accounts registered in Poland are treated as Poland-only for home-country use.” Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski also criticized the decision, accusing SpaceX of treating Poles as second-class customers and demanding a clear regulatory basis for the change. He asserted, “Poland is not a second-tier market. Polish customers are not second-tier customers.” Gawkowski added that if SpaceX attributes the change to “local regulatory requirements,” Warsaw expects specific rules to be cited rather than general explanations.
The new rules have been in effect for new customers since July 14, and will be extended to existing Polish users on August 17. This is not the first public dispute between Sikorski and Musk regarding Starlink; last year, Musk responded to Sikorski's warning about seeking alternative providers for Ukraine's Starlink service by telling the minister to “be quiet, small man.” SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.