By Technology Reporter- The government has intensified its plans to raid any premise and arrest anyone they see using Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet services.

Sources within the state security told ZimEye that surveillance teams have been set up and deployed to strategic areas where the state believes companies and individuals are using the technology.

Starlink, owned by SpaceX, has coverage in more than 60 countries and is operational in several African countries, including Nigeria, Mozambique, Zambia, Kenya and Malawi.

But in Zimbabwe, where internet connectivity drops away as you leave the capital, Harare – leaving those in more rural areas without primary access to communications – the government has banned Starlink.

The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), the country’s equivalent of South Africa’s communications regulator Icasa, has threatened to arrest individuals and businesses found distributing and advertising Starlink equipment.

The government-owned information website, H-Metro, said in January that Potraz would conduct nationwide raids to confront all those who may have installed the internet network.

Starlink has yet to be licensed by the regulator, but the service kits have been advertised on social media platforms, including Facebook, and distributed in the country.

A Potraz official said police have arrested two violators, in Victoria Falls and Bulawayo, and their cases are waiting to be heard in court. The official reiterated that selling or using Starlink services anywhere in Zimbabwe is illegal and that the regulator will conduct police raids to arrest any individual or business that violates the regulation.

-TechCentral