Satellite internet providers allowed to operate in Argentina

Tuesday, February 27th 2024 - 10:35 UTC

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The measure reaches Musk's Starlink, Amazon's Kuiper, and also One Web

Argentine authorities approved in a resolution published Monday in the Official Gazette that companies such as Amazon Kuiper, OneWeb, and Elon Musk's Starlink may start providing satellite internet connectivity to local users, it was reported in Buenos Aires. The service will become available in the second quarter of 2024.

“In line with our openness to the world, the President decided through Enacom to authorize the arrival in Argentina of the US companies Starlink and Amazon Kuiper, and the British company OneWeb. This means, no more and no less, greater freedom, greater investment, and greater competition in everything related to the satellite Internet market,” Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni said Monday at a press conference. “It will allow connectivity to companies and people that, for some reason, other technologies did not allow to do so,” he added.

From a geopolitical perspective, the measure also deepens the close relationship between President Javier Milei and Musk, it was explained. Currently, virtually all satellite internet services are provided by the state-owned ARSAT, or use its satellites for the service. Ties between Musk and Milei date back to when Milei won the Nov. 19 runoff and are limited so far to social network exchanges. “Prosperity lies ahead for Argentina,” Musk posted on X, which he also owns, on the day Milei was elected. On Dec. 6, Milei announced that he had had a conversation with Musk in which he thanked the entrepreneur for “standing up for the ideas of freedom.”

“Elon wished me good luck and success in the task, remembering that Argentina used to be one of the most prosperous and influential countries in the world,” said the president.

“These decisions mark our objectives. We want a technical, professional, and dynamic agency, with a strong role in the requirement of a simple and predictable regulatory framework that allows laying the foundations for the development of the knowledge society and the digital economy,” Enacom head Juan Martín Ozores argued in his resolution's rationale. “Our mission is to create a simple, clear, and transparent ecosystem that provides the necessary legal certainty to encourage investment, the development of competition, and the provision of quality services in the telecommunications sectors,” he added.

The US-based Amazon's service is known as Kuiper while OneWeb is based in London, UK, and in Virginia, United States.