Argentina authorizes Starlink, rival Amazon Kuiper

Argentina authorizes Starlink, rival Amazon Kuiper

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flies carrying a payload of 22 Starlink satellites into space
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flies carrying a payload of 22 Starlink satellites into space. Photo: MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/Getty Images via AFP
Source: AFP

Argentina on Monday gave authorization for the deployment of Starlink, the satellite internet service of Elon Musk -- a fan of the South American country's self-styled new "anarcho-capitalist" President Javier Milei.

In a decision published in the government gazette, Argentina's Enacom communications authority authorized Starlink but also its new competitor from Amazon, Project Kuiper, which is due to launch this year, and the London-headquartered OneWeb.

"This means... greater freedom, greater investment and greater competition in everything related to the satellite internet market," presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni told reporters in Buenos Aires.

Adorni said the move would bring internet connectivity to "companies and people for whom, for whatever reason, other technologies don't allow" such access.

According to the Starlink website, its satellite internet service will be available in Argentina in the second quarter of 2024.

Read also

Swiss chocolate giant Barry Callebaut may cut 18% of jobs

Musk had congratulated Milei on his election last November, saying on his social media platform X that "prosperity is ahead for Argentina."

PAY ATTENTION: Share your outstanding story with our editors! Please reach us through info@corp.legit.ng!

Milei, after a telephone conversation with the billionaire in December, said he had thanked Musk for "defending the ideas of freedom."

An outsider elected on a wave of fury over the country's economic decline, Milei has devalued the peso by over 50 percent, cut tens of thousands of public jobs and halved the number of government ministries since coming to office.

He has vowed to restore economic stability but has warned people that things will get worse before they get better.

Source: AFP

Authors:
AFP avatar

AFP AFP text, photo, graphic, audio or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. AFP news material may not be stored in whole or in part in a computer or otherwise except for personal and non-commercial use. AFP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in any AFP news material or in transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages whatsoever. As a newswire service, AFP does not obtain releases from subjects, individuals, groups or entities contained in its photographs, videos, graphics or quoted in its texts. Further, no clearance is obtained from the owners of any trademarks or copyrighted materials whose marks and materials are included in AFP material. Therefore you will be solely responsible for obtaining any and all necessary releases from whatever individuals and/or entities necessary for any uses of AFP material.