CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez has authorized Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to operate in the country under an agreement with the U.S. company, the Venezuelan government said, Reuters reported.
The national telecommunications regulator, Conatel, said its board on Thursday granted general license HGTS-00639 and seven Ku-band concessions to the local company SpaceX VZ, legally authorizing Starlink satellite internet service throughout the national territory, with a formal domicile and oversight in Venezuela.
The approval follows technical cooperation during the June 24 earthquake, which severely damaged land-based telephone and internet infrastructure in La Guaira state, Conatel said. Temporary permits issued then allowed more than 1,600 terminals to be activated to coordinate rescue and relief work, and were used to test direct-to-device text messaging between the country’s three mobile operators via satellite, according to El Nacional, which described the June quake as the deadliest in Venezuela in a century.
Conatel said in a statement that the grant reaffirms the state’s commitment to promoting new technologies and the digital inclusion of the population. El Nacional said the arrangement includes agreements with local private operators such as Digitel, which already used SpaceX’s satellite constellation to back up its mobile network, and is expected to expand data coverage in rural and hard-to-reach areas.
Rodríguez, Nicolás Maduro’s former vice president, has led Venezuela as interim president since U.S. forces seized Maduro in a raid on Caracas in January.
Sources: Reuters (via StreetInsider), Conatel, El Nacional
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