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I think they need licenses to use the radio spectrum. I believe Iridium set up a system in China so that all calls are routed through Chinese systems, so there is some historical precedent. The government of China also has anti-satellite weapons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_mi... .

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A nation using an anti-satellite weapon against another entity's satellite would be an unlikely, enormous escalation.

And one with profoundly self-destructive consequences too.

OTOH one country enabling communication infrastructure to another country's citizens without approval of their government would be rightly considered as violation of national sovereignty and could presumably be seen as an act of war.

Radio has long been used to communicate propaganda across state lines. The relative ease of signal jamming is why it's not seen as an aggressive act.

But its the citizen of the country who initiated the communication, and the act of providing a service cannot be made as an excuse for war. At best, the citizen get prosecuted for illegal communication.

Anything can be used as an excuse for war.

You really think North Korea wouldn't damage a satellite giving its citizens open internet access if it had the ability to do so?

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