On April 7, Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of Bangladesh, sent Trump an urgent letter. He listed all the ways that his country was trying to comply with Trump’s agenda and asked him to delay tariffs. The note included a curious addition: “We have executed the necessary steps to launch Starlink in Bangladesh.”

Since Starlink launched its first satellites in 2019, the internet provider owned by billionaire Elon Musk has attempted to expand into markets around the world, often facing regulatory red tape in doing so. But with Musk playing a high-profile role in Trump’s White House from January through May, Yunus and other leaders seemed to recognize that accommodating Starlink could be one means of appeasing the new administration.

The same day Yunus sent his letter, Starlink applied for a license with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. Three weeks after Yunus’ letter to Trump, the BTRC approved Starlink’s application. The service launched in Bangladesh the following month.

Bangladesh became the latest country around the world to expedite its regulatory approval process for satellite internet providers while Musk took part in Trump’s second administration. During the first five months of the year — as Musk assumed his lead role in the Department of Government Efficiency — Starlink announced it had become available in at least 13 countries, while its applications were approved in two more. In the six months since Musk broke ties with the administration, Starlink announced its entry into an additional 13 countries, totalling at least 26 countries in 2025.

In some cases, Starlink found quick success in countries it sought to enter for the first time. In others, Starlink’s applications had stalled for years until they were suddenly greenlit.