Last month, Darren Jason Watkins Jr., a popular American streamer, broadcast a visit to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia’s largest city. As his stream kept glitching, Watkins Jr., known as IShowSpeed, became more irritated.

“There’s no internet in Bolivia,” he told his 35 million followers as he walked with the city’s mayor. Watkins Jr. ended his livestream a few minutes later. It was the shortest during a tour across South America that included 10 other countries.

It isn’t just Watkins Jr. who was frustrated with internet access and speed in Bolivia. Only 73% of Bolivians had internet access in 2022, lagging behind neighboring Brazil and Chile, where more than 80% and nearly 89% of the population is online, respectively. Bolivia also has the slowest internet speed in all of Latin America.

Fed up with the state-run internet infrastructure, which relies on the Chinese satellite Túpac Katari 1 in some measure, Bolivians have been turning to Starlink, which was banned in August. The government has said it is “promoting more dynamic and transparent regulations to lower the bureaucratic barriers” to improve wireless communications. But critics say it is not feasible to hold out against Starlink or other Western telecommunications providers when the state is unable to meet the requirement for reliable internet.

High-speed internet “is an essential foundation for the country’s development and a priority that we cannot continue to postpone,” Mariela Baldivieso, an independent lawmaker campaigning to regularize Starlink, told Rest of World. In October, Baldivieso, who chairs the science and technology committee in the legislature, requested an explanation from regulators regarding their decision to “disable” Starlink, but has yet to receive a response, she said.

Internet connectivity is fundamental to guarantee human rights, Néstor Ríos Rivero, the executive director of Bolivia’s Telecommunications and Transport Regulation and Oversight Authority (ATT), told Rest of World. But “companies wishing to operate in Bolivia must comply with ATT regulatory standards, including obtaining licenses and permits,” he said.

“The purpose of Túpac Katari [1] is clear,” Iván Zambrana, director of the Bolivian Space Agency, told Rest of World, referring to the Chinese-built geostationary telecommunications satellite that in part helps deliver Bolivia’s internet connectivity. “To provide communications to people who did not have communications in rural areas.”

Túpac Katari 1 plays a role in providing mobile and internet connectivity across Bolivia’s cities as well. In these areas, however, internet providers maintain infrastructure for more stable connections, such as fiber optic cable networks, making them less reliant on Túpac Katari 1.

Launched in 2013, the $300-million satellite program was funded largely by China Development Bank through a 15-year loan, to be paid back through user contracts. For Bolivia, China was an obvious choice: Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president — also a coca farmer and union leader — took power in 2006 with anti-capitalist, anti-U.S. rhetoric, aligning the government with China and Russia. These relationships continue today under the government of Morales’ heir-turned-rival, Luis Arce Catacora.

Only 56% of Bolivians have fixed broadband connections, with around 90% going online via their mobile phones, largely through the state-owned Entel, which rents bandwidth from the national space agency. While there are no official numbers, Zambrana estimates that only 10% of the national territory has mobile coverage, largely concentrated in urban centers. In rural areas, people regularly walk to the tops of nearby hills in search of a signal or make do with no network at all.

It is little wonder then that desperate Bolivians have resorted to smuggling in Starlink kits across the country’s porous borders. On Facebook pages, sellers in Peru and Chile — where Starlink is legally available — promise direct delivery, while other users travel abroad to buy them, returning home with the kits stuffed in their carry-on bags.

Bolivia is not alone in banning Starlink — or in seeing its population find ways to access it. In countries across Africa and Southeast Asia, people are turning to Starlink kits to bypass spotty internet, pricey service providers, and communications blackouts, ignoring government restrictions.

Last year, Ricardo Guillén, a content creator from Santa Rosa, a village in the jungles of central Bolivia, purchased a Starlink kit from a Peruvian seller who hand-delivered it to him in the nearby town of Guanay. Guillén, who has a side job installing antennae for Túpac Katari 1’s free television service, celebrated with an unboxing video. “I believe that everything that happened, all the effort, was worth it because what I have here can change the history of my channel,” he told his more than 61,000 followers.

Starlink’s regional roaming feature permits two months of continuous service outside of Peru, where Guillén’s antenna is registered. Limits on international and digital bank transfers, imposed recently by the Bolivian government, have kept Guillén from paying the $50 monthly bill in one go, leading to frequent disruptions in his service. While each cut so far has reset his roaming period, Guillén may lose the ability to connect altogether, he told Rest of World.

Starlink’s “speed is incredible, and the word ‘unlimited’ means that we can work, download, upload without stopping,” Guillén said. It “is better than some fiber optic services available in La Paz,” he added, referring to Bolivia’s seat of government. 

Guillén estimates there are about 10,000 Starlink kits in Bolivia, home to 12 million people. Small tourism operations report having ditched the space agency’s own satellite-based internet packages for Starlink in remote, community-run hotels. Ranchers use it to manage livestock herds. Even in major cities like Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, remote workers have purchased Starlink kits to ensure internet access on the go.

For now, there is no indication if or when the Bolivian government will lift the ban on Starlink. According to Zambrana, SpaceX abruptly terminated negotiations facilitated by the U.S. embassy in 2023, during which Bolivian officials laid out their requirements to allow Starlink in. Starlink had resisted, wanting to connect directly with end users, bypassing partnerships with — and oversight from — host governments, he said.

“We want their entry to be legal, and not to have a negative impact on Bolivia’s communications system,” said Zambrana. “But you can see that Elon Musk’s attitude is very arrogant. I’d like him to be more cooperative.”

SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment from Rest of World on its negotiations with Bolivian authorities.

The Túpac Katari 1 satellite is set to run out of fuel in 2028, though Bolivian authorities expect to see its lifespan extended to 2030. They are looking ahead to what comes next. “We will choose the best option,” Zambrana said. But, he added, “it most likely will not be a new satellite.”

Meanwhile, the race to bring fast broadband connectivity through low-Earth orbit satellites is picking up, with China’s Thousand Sails, and others trying to outprice one another. Bolivia has begun holding talks with Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Canada’s Telesat, according to Zambrana.  

“The future includes the use of low orbit satellites and hybrid technologies … to cover hard-to-reach areas,” Ríos Rivero, a member of the Digital Innovation Board at the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union, told Rest of World. The technology, implemented through a collaboration between the public and private sectors, could ensure universal and sustainable connectivity, he said in a written statement. 

“Currently, work is being done on updating regulations to enable Starlink and similar companies to enter the Bolivian market,” Ríos Rivero said. 

Clandestine Starlink users like Guillén only want to be able to use the service legally. Starlink’s availability map shows that it will be available in Bolivia in 2025. 

“I hope so, because it would mean the antennae that have managed to enter Bolivia and are now without service could be connected,” Guillén said.