Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet provider, has accused Telecom Italia of hindering the development of broadband internet wide in our country and beyond. And it is not a simple statement on X/Twitter by its founder, Elon Musk, but a complaint filed with the Ministry of Industry and AGCOM. This was reported by Bloomberg, which says it has observed some related internal documents.
Basically, Starlink says that Telecom Italia refused to share spectrum information with Starlink committed, which it should do by law to avoid interference between the networks of the two companies. The SpaceX division first made the request in October 2023, but Telecom says Starlink is not authorized to operate in that particular spectrum for technical reasons and therefore has no right to access the data.
Starlink points out that it has communicated with several operators without a hitch, and that Telecom is essentially the only one refusing to cooperate. The company has asked the Ministry of Industry to do everything possible to force Telecom Italia to collaborate, saying that otherwise it will be forced to divert its investments to other European countries; Starlink also cites the risk of disruption to its network in parts of Southern Europe and North Africa.
For its part, Telecom says that this is one incomplete representation of the situation, because it doesn’t take into account the fact that the two companies are still communicating to find a solution. For now, neither AGCOM nor the Ministry have released public statements on the incident; we can do nothing but wait for developments.