[KingMachiavelli]

I would be surprised if it was that simple. Countries like Russia and China are going to want a very visible method of knowing whether a given ground dish is the normal version or their countries specific version. Anything that is just cosmetic would be too simple to fake. The biggest problem is that if any other entity controls the satellites themselves; they could turn routing the the GFW on and off which would be a huge security risk for these countries. (i.e western countries pressure Starlink to turn GFW routing off).

I wouldn't be surprised if China just started their own state sponsored low orbit satellite internet.

Another decent, cheaper middle ground would be operating just the 'first-hop' satellites that ground units communicate with and adjusting the technology such that the dish units used in china are substantially different in terms of the actual RF. Then these China run satellites enforce the GFW and then route traffic to Starlink and other 'non-china' satellites.

The biggest downside I see to that setup is that this satellite technology has to in a non-geostationary orbit which means you need a lot more satellites to get 24 hour coverage in a specific location. This isn't a problem if you want to provide service to the entire planet but for country specific networks; the extra satellites are a bit redundant.

The even safer option is to make running a ground dish itself a government enterprise. Private/non-state ownership remains illegal but the state uses Starlink et al. as just another backbone in their state network. This is probably the most likely since it is far simpler to integrate and control.

Starlink's stance on the issue is probably enough to satisfy countries like the UK that have some unique internet laws but are still satisfied with using the normal western legal process to enforce their needs.

[neaanopri]

Bent-piping to a GFW ground station makes a lot of sense