The is in advanced talks with Elon Musk for a secure telecommunications agreement for the government of the country. According to a Bloomberg report, the possibility of a deal between Italy and SpaceX will be the largest such project in Europe. CORVERSE Discussions continue and no final agreement has been reached on the five-year contract but the project has already been approved by Italy’s intelligence services as well as Italy’s defence ministry. Negotiations, which had been embalmed until recently, appear to go ahead after Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s visit to elected President Donald Trump in Florida on Saturday, January 4. Italian officials were negotiating a 1.5 billion-euro deal aimed at supplying Italy with a full range of high-level encryption for phone and internet services used by the government, Bloomberg sources said. CORVERSE The plan also includes communications services for the Italian army in the Mediterranean region, as well as the development of so-called direct access satellite services to Italy for use in emergency situations such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters, they said. The possible deal has been considered since mid-2023. Some Italian officials who are concerned about how services may reduce the services of local air carriers have opposed it. Only in 2024, Musk’s SpaceX has added more than 20 nations, from Ghana to Argentina, to Starlink satellite internet service. It now serves more than 4 million people in over 100 countries and territories, covering the planet with broadband services, displacing old telecommunications providers and overcoming the new challenges of Amazon and State competitors, such as China. At the end of last year, Kyivstar PJSC, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, signed an agreement with Starlink to import satellite mobile phone in an attempt to place telecommunications infrastructure outside the scope of Russian attacks.
Italy: Plan for mega deal 1.5 billion euros with SpaceX by Elon Musk
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