YANGON: SpaceX has cut service to more than 2,500 Starlink internet devices at Myanmar scam centres, a company executive said on Wednesday, after it revealed that their use had exploded in the illicit industry.

A highly publicised crackdown starting in February saw around 7,000 workers repatriated and Thailand enact a cross-border internet blockade.

But an investigation this month revealed construction has continued apace, while Starlink receivers have been installed en masse, seeming to connect the hubs to the Elon Musk-owned satellite internet network.

SpaceX’s vice-president of Starlink business operations, Lauren Dreyer, said the company “disabled over 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected ‘scam centers’” in Myanmar.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2025