{"id":735885,"date":"2026-08-12T19:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735885\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T19:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:30:11","slug":"poland-complains-to-starlink-over-exclusion-from-european-roaming-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/735885\/","title":{"rendered":"Poland complains to Starlink over exclusion from European roaming zone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\tKeep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!
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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team<\/a> and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Polish government has appealed to Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX,\u00a0to reverse its decision to exclude Poland from its European roaming area. It says that Polish users, who will now face greater costs when travelling, should not be treated as \u201csecond-tier customers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Starlink, which provides users with portable terminals that act as receivers for internet connections from its network of satellites, offers a \u201cRoam\u201d service that lets customers continue using their connection outside their home country without extra charges as long as they remain within their designated region.<\/p>\n

One region is Europe, in which Starlink has included 36 countries and territories. However, the firm makes clear<\/a> that \u201cPoland is not included in the Europe region\u201d, meaning users registered in that country are not included in the Roam system.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Starlink\u2019s list of countries and territories in its Europe roaming region, with a note confirming Poland\u2019s exclusion<\/p>\n

The company offered no explanation for Poland\u2019s exclusion from the system. Some media reports have suggested that it is because terminals registered in Poland are used in Ukraine. However, Ukraine is itself not included in Starlink\u2019s European \u201cRoam\u201d region.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s decision prompted an angry response from Polish government ministers. \u201cI do not agree with a global technology company treating Poles worse than other Europeans,\u201d wrote digital affairs minister Krzysztof Gawkowski on X, the social media platform owned by Musk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX wants to operate in Poland, benefit from the Polish market, and earn from Polish customers, it must treat them fairly and on equal terms,\u201d he added. \u201cThat is why I have appealed to SpaceX for the urgent restoration of equal terms for the company\u2019s Polish customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nie zgadzam si\u0119, \u017ceby globalna firma technologiczna traktowa\u0142a Polki i Polak\u00f3w gorzej ni\u017c innych Europejczyk\u00f3w.<\/p>\n

Je\u017celi @SpaceX<\/a> @Elon<\/a> Musk chce dzia\u0142a\u0107 w Polsce, korzysta\u0107 z polskiego rynku i zarabia\u0107 na polskich klientach, musi ich traktowa\u0107 uczciwie i na r\u00f3wnych zasadach.<\/p>\n

Od\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Krzysztof Gawkowski (@KGawkowski) August 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, foreign minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski revived a dispute he had with Musk last year<\/a> over the provision of Starlink terminals to Ukraine during its war with Russia. That dispute saw Musk tell Sikorski to \u201cbe quiet, small man\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, Elon Musk, big man,\u201d wrote Sikorski today on X, \u201cstop discriminating [against] Polish users of Starlink or we might re-think paying you $50 million p.a. for your services.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latter was a reference to the fact that Poland spends around $50 million a year to help provide Starlink services for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Hey, @elonmusk<\/a>, big man, stop discriminating Polish users of Starlink or we might re-think paying you $50 million p.a. for your services.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rados\u0142aw Sikorski \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa (@sikorskiradek) August 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team<\/a> and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Main image credit: Photo by Evgeny Opanasenko<\/a>\/Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n

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Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of\u00a0Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including\u00a0Foreign Policy,\u00a0POLITICO Europe,\u00a0EUobserver\u00a0and\u00a0Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work! Notes from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-735885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}