In the two years since Washington green lit SpaceX’s satellite internet service, an underground worldwide network of smuggling and advocacy has brought uncensored internet to thousands of people in the Islamic Republic.
By Cyrus Farivar, Forbes Staff
InNovember, Mohammad waited in an alley near his apartment in a city in southern Iran. The 38-year-old construction consultant was due to meet with the representative of a seller he’d found on Telegram, and was prepared to hand over $700 in U.S. dollars in exchange for a piece of illegal technology believed to pose a threat to the regime in Tehran: A Starlink terminal that would give him free, uncensored access to the internet.
Starlink, a satellite internet service built by SpaceX, is banned in Iran, which has some of the most restrictive internet in the world. The Apple and Google app stores and apps like Instagram and Slack are all blocked by government censors, who often arrest those who say things online that could be considered “anti-Islamic” or critical of the Islamic Republic.
But Starlink’s use has surged in the last two years since SpaceX’s billionaire founder Elon Musk turned on the service, an act that encouraged smugglers to sneak terminals into Iran. Threats of fines and jail time haven’t deterred a black market fueled by a growing activist movement to get the internet into people’s hands. Now, as many as an estimated 20,000 people have high-speed Internet access that is nearly impossible for the Islamic Republic to censor, much less shut down.
That’s a miniscule fraction of the 89 million people who live in Iran. And the exorbitant resale prices mean the terminals are only affordable for the privileged few — they resell for anywhere from $700 to $2,000, compared to the typical American retail price of $250. (An average Iranian monthly salary is around $250.)
The Starlink service also requires a $70 monthly fee, which, due to American sanctions on Iranian banks, require a convoluted series of steps involving crypto and prepaid credit cards. In addition, users pay a one-time $200 “outside region” fee to activate their account in a country that is different from where it was purchased.
But for those who can afford it and have an appetite for risk, the reasons to acquire a Starlink terminal range from the mundane to the political. Forbes spoke to multiple Starlink users in Iran for whom unfiltered internet means faster speeds for video calls and video games, unfettered access to social media and the ability to say whatever they want — as well as a better way to organize against the government.
“Mass adoption of Starlink in Iran could be the technological revolution we’ve been waiting for in our fight against regime’s digital oppression,” said Ahmad Ahmadian, Executive Director of Holistic Resilience, an activist group based in Los Angeles. “Like how Radio Free Europe helped crack Soviet Union’s wall of propaganda, Starlink could shatter Islamic Republic’s digital iron curtain.”
For Mohammad, whose last name Forbes is withholding to protect his identity, Starlink will help with his work, which requires him to interface with foreign clients in Canada. His home country’s notoriously slow connection speeds have stymied his business; he has sometimes been unable to access his foreign clients’ Dropbox and transmit professional files and documents.
After he found a seller on NasNet, a Persian-language Telegram channel that promotes Starlink use, and met the delivery person, he told Forbes the process of getting his terminal was simple. “I sent the location to a delivery guy and received it like a pizza,” he said.
Along with helping people get their hands on Starlinks, NasNet also publishes YouTube videos with step-by-step guides for set-up and technical problems. They’re made primarily by an Iranian woman who has lived in Europe for 10 years, who requested anonymity; she appears in the videos with her face hidden from the camera to preserve her privacy. She told Forbes that an open, uncensored, and high-speed internet connection can be life changing.
“The idea of unlimited internet feels almost unbelievable to many Iranians,” she said. “It’s like a thirsty person in the middle of a desert who suddenly finds a well. At first, they can’t believe it’s real. Then, they drink as much as they can.”
Starlink first came to Iran in 2022. People had taken to the streets over the police killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested, held and reportedly beaten while in custody for the crime of failing to sufficiently cover her hair and limbs. To suppress the mass protests, the Iranian government shut down the internet — a tactic it has used regularly to quell uprisings.
The protests inspired the U.S. Treasury and State Departments to provide an exception to sanctions for communications services, and three days later, Musk turned on Starlink service in Iran.
“It requires the use of terminals in-country, which I suspect the government will not support, but if anyone can get terminals into Iran, they will work,” he said at the time. Musk and SpaceX did not respond to a comment request.
SpaceX, which just this month conducted a secondary share sale, has a current estimated valuation of $350 billion, according to CNBC.
In the months that followed the September 2022 protests, Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian-American activist in Los Angeles, used funds from local nonprofits and private donors to acquire about 100 Starlink terminals. He sent them to activists and other allies near Iran, who helped to smuggle them into the country.
Yahyanejad also made requests to SpaceX to improve the terminals for Iranian users. On his advice, he said, the company added foldable pole mounts — making them easier to transport by backpack — and detachable ethernet cables instead of a proprietary cable that was impossible to replace in Iran. (The Iranian government, which has appealed to the Telecommunications Union, a United Nations agency based in Geneva, Switzerland, to get Starlink turned off recently complained that it had not been able to locate the devices at all because one terminal can easily fit in a backpack.)
Mohammad is cognizant of the risks that come with his new internet connection. Starlink terminals are supposed to be mounted outside with a clear view of the sky, but he’s placed his inside, next to the door to his balcony, covered by a black curtain. “I can’t trust my neighbors yet,” he said.
That means it’s far slower than it should be — perhaps half the capacity, he estimates. But it’s worth it: it’s still “so much better than my previous internet.”
