China has issued a penalty to a foreign vessel for illegally using Starlink – SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service – within Chinese waters in the first case of its kind, according to local media.
The vessel, which was not identified, was found with a “micro rectangular antenna” installed on its top deck during a routine inspection by maritime law enforcement officers at Ningbo port in Zhejiang province, state-run Ningbo Daily reported on Wednesday.
The Ningbo Maritime Safety Administration said the antenna was “significantly different from standard maritime safety communication equipment”, according to the report.
Advertisement
It was later confirmed to be a “low-Earth orbit [LEO] satellite communication device manufactured by a foreign company” and the vessel was found to have continued using the device to transmit data after entering Chinese territorial waters, the report said.
The brand of the device was not named in the report but it was identifiable in the photos as a Starlink terminal.
It said the case was the first successful regulatory action of its kind dealing with “illegal use of LEO satellite communication” within Chinese waters.