Hundreds of South African customers using Starlink, SpaceX’s internet service, faced interruptions and blocking of their accounts likely due to a company reselling the service against its terms of service, according to Wessel van Wyk, a patent attorney at Smit & Van Wyk.
The disruption primarily affected users who obtained their kits from Mozambique-based importer Starsat Africa, with the cut-off reported to impact between 350 and 400 customers, approximately 10% of Starsat’s total customer base.
Starsat offers an import service to several Sub-Saharan African countries, including South Africa, and a management service, which covers account sign-up and payments to Starlink. The latter service costs a monthly fee of R1,299, significantly higher compared to the roughly R700-R900 a customer would pay directly to Starlink for an African roaming subscription.
Additionally, customers availing themselves of Starsat’s service do not receive login details necessary for managing their accounts, nor are their kits registered in their names or email addresses.
Starsat Africa has suggested that a potential reason for the revival of the service blockade by Starlink was because some of their customers resold the dishes through other companies using Starlink’s branding. The importer mainly serves Sub-Saharan Africa, managing account sign-ups and Starlink payments in addition to providing import services.
A previous cease-and-desist letter from Starlink to IT LEC, which later delegated its customers to Starsat Africa in 2023, displayed similarities in wording to Starsat’s explanation of Starlink’s reasons for halting service to Starsat’s customers.
The cease-and-desist letter instructed IT LEC to stop and refrain from acquiring, distributing, or sale-facilitating any Starlink products in South Africa. IT LEC was given 30 days to transfer the accounts to the users themselves, while in Starsat’s case, Starlink terminated the services associated with the affected accounts immediately.
Patent attorney, Wessel van Wyk, pointed out that trademark usage likely wasn’t the primary issue. On the contrary, the supply of goods and services potentially breached Starlink’s terms of service, with trademark violations being a secondary remedy to enforce rights.
Starlink’s Terms of Service, section 2.1, prohibits the purchase of an “excessive number” of units for resale and disallows service resale by Starlink. A single Starlink account can only buy up to six units. Although there are authorized resellers, they can resell business kits and packages. Starlink’s FAQ also states that they cannot activate services for dishes purchased from unauthorized resellers.
Patent attorney, Wessel van Wyk, highlighted that Starlink is the only entity capable of unblocking the affected services, due to Starlink’s technical enforcement mechanism. If Starsat Africa has access to the accounts, a possible solution would be to transfer the services directly to their clients. If Starsat Africa was unauthorized to supply goods and services, and the accounts are blocked, the clients or Starsat Africa would need to contact Starlink directly to seek a technical solution.
In recent days, some Starsat customers reported that their Starlink connections were functioning again. Despite this, Starsat reported that they are still unable to access accounts to facilitate direct interaction between the clients and Starlink.
Meanwhile, Starsat maintains that the cut-off was due to trademark violations by some customers, with the company itself seemingly on a pre-approval list for distributors. A competitor, a rival importer of Starlink kits, asserts there is no longer a pre-approval list in the country. This rival also assists in service sign-ups for a considerable one-time fee, as the sign-up process can be time-consuming, requiring customer’s input from start to finish.
The rival purchases individual Starlink kits, utilizes separate Google Plus codes for services in different African countries where Starlink is officially available. The company also provides an expedited service with next-day delivery for an additional charge.
