Alessio Terzi warns about governments’ dependence on private space infrastructure. It is an analysis of concentrated influence, not a claim that Starlink formally controls internet access.
Alessio Terzi, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, has compared SpaceX and its Starlink satellite system with the influence once wielded by the British East India Company. In a Business Insider report cited by RBC, Terzi warns that governments could become dependent on a private company that affects citizens’ and military personnel’s access to communications. This is the researcher’s assessment, not a description of a specific agreement giving Musk control of internet access.
Terzi argues that control over satellite communications and rocket launches gives SpaceX political influence normally associated with states. He says the company is gradually taking on functions traditionally handled by governments. His historical comparison is with the East India Company, which received trade privileges and later maintained its own army and administrative system.
The University of Cambridge’s Bennett School of Public Policy says SpaceX accounts for nearly 80% of all payload launched into orbit. RBC cites that figure in the context of an argument about concentration in space infrastructure. Terzi argues that governments’ dependence on a single provider can blur the boundary between private and public authority.
The report also includes historian William Dalrymple’s broader reflections on the political influence of major corporations and Elon Musk’s role in the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This is wider historical and political context included by RBC; it does not establish that Starlink independently sets internet-access rules in any country.
The East India Company comparison is a warning about the risk of governments becoming overly dependent on private infrastructure. It does not mean that SpaceX holds the legal powers of a sovereign state: the discussion concerns an analyst’s view of how market concentration could affect government decisions.