Italy discusses telecom deal with SpaceX

Musk makes presence felt as Giorgia Meloni considers Starlink play

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Image: Getty via Dennis

The Italian government is said to be in advanced talks with SpaceX about purchasing telecom and data services from satellite company Starlink.

According to Bloomberg news agency, the contract is worth $1.5 billion over five years.

Under the agreement, SpaceX will provide encryption of signals and telecom and data services for the military. That includes signals on and around the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, Defense must be able to use ordinary smartphones to make phone calls via Musk’s satellites in emergency situations. That technology has recently been up and running.

The European Union last month commissioned a project to build its own satellite network capable of beaming telecom and broadband to Earth. This project is called Iris2. If all goes according to plan, by 2030 companies and governments will be able to have broadband in the most remote areas of the EU and surrounding areas.

On 16 December the European Commission gave a 12-year license to the newly formed consortium SpaceRISE. That will allocate €10.6 billion to build a network with 290 space codes. Of that, 61% will be financed from public funds.

Italy’s security and intelligence services have reviewed the technical details of the deal and appear to have no objections.

Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni is touting herself as a Trump ally. In turn, the presidential candidate maintains close ties with SpaceX boss Elon Musk.

Outside the EU, the British government is holding exploratory talks with Cooper, the broadband project that Amazon will build in space. The first test satellites are in orbit, but the network is not comparable in size and capacity to Starlink.

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Read More: AWS Cooper EU European Union SpaceRise Starlink telcos