Italy Negotiating 1.5bn Euro Government Comms Deal With Starlink

Matthew Broersma,
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A rocket launch for SpaceX's Starlink satellite communications network. Image credit: SpaceX

Italian government in advanced negotiations with SpaceX’s Starlink to provide secure government communications via satellite

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Italy is in advanced negotiations with SpaceX for a deal to provide secure telecommunications for the government via the company’s Starlink subsidiary, the largest such project in Europe, Bloomberg reported.

An agreement on the five-year contract has not yet been reached, but the project has been approved by Italy’s intelligence services and defence ministry, the report said, citing unnamed sources.

The 1.5 billion euro deal would reportedly provide a full range of top-level encryption for government telephone and internet services.

The plan would also include communications for the Italian military in the Mediterranean area and the roll-out of “direct-to-cell” satellite services for emergencies such as militant attacks or natural disasters.

Police officers in Milan, Italy. Image credit: Unsplash
Image credit: Unsplash

Satellite communications

Such services allow calls to be routed through ordinary mobile phones that are outside the range of a cell tower, without any specialised equipment such as a satellite phone.

Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, Kyivstar, reached an agreement with Starlink last week to roll out such services in Ukraine.

The Italian deal has been under review since 2023 and has been opposed by some Italian officials concerned with how reliance on SpaceX could detract from local carriers.

Italy was reviewing alternatives to Starlink, including the EU’s planned IRIS² satellite communications network or building its own satellite constellation, but the costs would have been far higher, the report said.

Starlink alternatives

IRIS² aims to build a satellite constellation by 2027 for secure government communications, a project intended to be the EU’s answer to Starlink’s Starshield network for defence and other sensitive communications.

The negotiations had stalled but appeared to move forward after prime minister Giorgia Meloni visited US president-elect Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend, the report said.

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk is a close ally of Trump and heavily funded his 2024 election campaign.