(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk’s Starlink says its high-speed internet rollout in Italy is being blocked by the country’s largest telco, potentially impacting service across southern Europe and northern Africa. claims.
Starlink, in a complaint filed over the weekend with Italy’s communications watchdog and the Ministry of Industry, said Telecom Italia would not be able to comply with regulations requiring it to share spectrum data to avoid frequency interference with its equipment for months. He also claimed that he was not complying. Bloomberg shows.
Telecom Italia rejected what it said was a partial reconstruction of the facts that did not take into account the ongoing debate. Telecom Italia Capital bonds due in November 2033 fell 1.2 cents to 92.6 cents on the dollar on Monday, heading for their biggest decline since Oct. 3, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.
The lack of access to data significantly delayed the deployment of new gateway equipment owned by Starlink, a satellite internet provider controlled by Musk’s SpaceX, the documents said.
In contrast to other carriers, Telecom Italia has “clearly communicated to Starlink that it does not wish to coordinate” and has not shared the necessary data, the document said. The document said this could also cause service outages in parts of southern Europe and northern Africa, which are partially powered by equipment in Italy.
Starlink also called on the Italian Ministry of Industry to encourage Telecom Italia to take all possible steps to cooperate on the spectrum front. If the situation remains unresolved, Starlink will be forced to move its investments from Italy to other European countries, according to the document.
Starlink said in an earlier document that the first data request dates back to mid-October. According to the document, Telecom Italia said in a subsequent response that Starlink should not be allowed on certain frequencies for technical reasons and said it would deny access.
Representatives for Italy’s communications authority Agcom and the Ministry of Industry declined to comment. Representatives for SpaceX also did not respond to requests for comment.
satellite network
Starlink transmits broadband internet from a network of about 5,500 satellites that SpaceX began deploying in 2019.
Read more: Elon Musk’s Starlink terminal falls into the wrong hands
Telecom Italia has been held back for decades by a complex mix of high labor costs and ever-higher investments in keeping its network infrastructure up to date.
Last year, the company sold its most valuable asset, its landline telephone network, to U.S. private equity firm KKR & Co. in a deal valued at about 19 billion euros ($20.6 billion) plus earnouts.
Starlink, which already has about 2.6 million customers, has the potential to become a major revenue source for SpaceX, which was founded by Musk as a vehicle to realize his dreams of space exploration.
The company is now the most important private contractor for the U.S. government’s space program and a dominant force in national security.
