The government is in talks with Elon
Musk's SpaceX to use their Starlink satellites for
communications but no agreements have been reached, Minister for
Relations with Parliament Luca Ciriani told the Senate on
Thursday in response to a parliamentary question posed by the
opposition, centre-left Democratic Party.
"The government is evaluating the hypothesis of integrating
satellite technology as a complement to existing infrastructures
for more remote areas with Starlink and other operators,"
Ciriani said.
"In the specific case of Starlink, discussions are underway with
a number of Italian regions, in the North, Centre, and South, in
order to test the provision of a 'space-based service' aimed at
remote areas, or those without terrestrial infrastructure.
"In any case, as already stated in the statement released by the
premier's office on January 6, we reiterate that no contracts
have been signed, nor have any agreements been concluded between
the Italian government and the Space X company for the use of
the Starlink satellite communications system to cover the most
remote areas of the territory".
PD leader Elly Schlein on Sunday reiterated her criticism of the
hypothesis that Premier Giorgia Meloni's administration could
reach an agreement with SpaceX after the world richest man
talked about denying Ukraine access to it.
In a post on X, Musk said Kyiv's "entire front line would
collapse if I turned it off". He subsequently said he had no
intention of doing that.
Schlein said that Musk was "proving that the only thing he wants
is to extend his own economic empire, even if this means doing
so on the back of an aggrieved people who are currently
undergoing yet another offensive.
"How can Giorgia Meloni want to hand over the keys to Italy's
national security to Musk after hearing his latest, very serious
words?" continued the secretary of the centre-left group.
"The government should change course immediately...
"Without an efficient, competitive European satellite network,
European defence can never exist".
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