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by lotsofpulp 1981 days ago
> assuming there is any kind of trade relationship between the country and the country of the satellite internet provider

Assuming the other country has something worth trading for. I imagine Uganda wouldn’t really have anything to bargain with the US if a US satellite internet company rejected Uganda’s request.

3 comments

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/africa/east-africa/uganda

In case anyone else is interested in the actual data for that.

Problem is why would a satellite internet provider provide service? Money is the obvious answer, but how will customers get money to them?

I could just see them continuing to provide service at no cost as a gesture of goodwill (particularly if their satellite covers another country), but only so long as limited customers use it that way. They won't be doing upgrades though. And it isn't hard to figure out who is getting internet in this way and physically confiscate their equipment.

Worst case, Uganda could just jam the satellites.
From what I understand, the US military is a major customer of commercial communication satellites. Jamming those satellites could be a very bad idea, regardless of who you were intending to inconvenience.