Italy Plans $1.6 Billion SpaceX Telecom Security Deal

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Italy is in advanced talks with Elon Musk's SpaceX for a deal to provide secure telecommunications for the nation's government -- the largest such project in Europe, people with knowledge of the matter said Sunday. Discussions are ongoing, and a final agreement on the five-year contract hasn't been reached, said the people, who asked not to be identified citing confidential discussions. The project has already been approved by Italy's Intelligence Services as well as Italy's Defense Ministry, they said. Italy on Monday confirmed discussions are ongoing, saying no deal had yet been reached. "The talks with SpaceX are part of normal government business," the government said.

The negotiations, which had stalled until recently, appeared to move forward after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on Saturday. The Italian government said the two didn't discuss the issue during their meeting. Italian officials have been negotiating on a $1.6 billion deal aimed at supplying Italy with a full range of top-level encryption for telephone and Internet services used by the government, the people said. The plan also includes communications services for the Italian military in the Mediterranean area as well as the rollout of so-called direct-to-cell satellite services in Italy for use in emergencies like terror attacks or natural disasters, they said. The possible deal has been under review since mid-2023. It's been opposed by some Italian officials concerned about how the services may detract from local carriers.

Meloni has denied this

[Nadir]

In an interview today, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni has denied talking to Musk about Starlink in her recent trip to Mar-a-lago to discuss the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran.

Re:

[nickovs]

Actually, no. What she denied [investing.com] was that she was talking to Musk about this. They've been dating, which makes the whole deal a staggering conflict of interest. Her denial was about the conflict of interest, not the deal itself.

Re:

[timeOday]

"Been dating" is a rumor based on photographs from public events. They deny it.

They do look pretty enchanted in those photos tho...

https://news.sky.com/story/elo... [sky.com]

Re:

[nightflameauto]

Banging and dating are two separate things. And Musk is well known to bang anything in his general vicinity if allowed. If she's game, good for them. Maybe they can distract each other from doing stupid shit for a few minutes here or there.

A dangerous game

[coofercat]

If it's true, this is a woefully dangerous game.

Most government-to-business transactions are benign enough. However, Musk has shown he's no where near benign, and more than happy to meddle in countries other than his own's politics. Doing business with him on a national level is highly risky.

I doubt he'd ever sign such a thing, but if any government does business with any Musk business, they need a clause that says something like "The supplier will pay $100 million for each word in any communication origina

Re:

[Gavino]

Are we now seeing the beginnings of Musk Derangement Syndrome?

Re: A dangerous game

[flyingfsck]

Many Sloshdatters have been suffering from Musk Derangement Syndrome for a long time. I think many are terminal already and may soon be Borne again.

Re:

[Zocalo]

I'd say a lot of people's views on Musk shifted pretty much around the time he bought Twitter, took a hard turn to the right, and started claiming to be a free-speech absolutionist while ruthlessly clamping down on any criticism of himself (free speech means they get to criticize and take the piss out of you as well, Elmo).

Also, don't assume it's black and white. I still have the greatest respect for his achievments with Tesla and SpaceX. But as far as his political views, rank hypocrisy, and meddling i

Re:

[JoshZK]

I think so, because I'd like to know why people don't like him without mentioning his wealth or parroting Reddit rumors of what he might do in the future. Are there any past crazy scandals I'm unaware about. And no I don't care about how he came to this country, our immigration system is broken. At most he would have filed an extension or gotten a new visa and vacationed at home while they waited for it to be active again. I'm no expert on visas but it sounds like work for a lawyer and they move at the spee

Re:

[Zocalo]

With Musk being so much in bed with the US Government at the moment, Trump's rhetoric about taking over - including via military intervention - land or other assets belonging to friendly nations, and the US' proven previous on eavesdropping on allies (which, to be fair, everyone does), Italy might as well just hand all thier comms straight over to the NSA if they were to go through with this. Sure, the comms will amost certainly be encrypted before it goes near the Starlink system, but that's just making t

Re:

[timeOday]

I find it hard to believe common means of end-to-end encryption have been compromised. Cracking that would be trillion-dollar breakthrough for every well-funded hacking organization around the globe. Based on past and recently history, secrets - even of top agencies in the US - are things with a limited shelf life. For example Snowden obviously must not have caught wind of any such thing.

Re:

[JoshZK]

That would be easy since the company/supplier and Elon Musk are two separate entities. Do you know how corporations work? Or were you trying to say Musk should sign something saying that he wouldn't name call someone? Maybe we should learn about free speech sooner than later.

Musk Multiplier

[coop247]

1.6 Billion contract times the standard 100x Musk Multiplier and SpaceX is worth another 200 billion! Actually probably a trillion. It might be a number so big you can't even write it down on paper.

What's special here

[necro81]

Secure communications are available via terrestrial cell networks, wired telecommunications, and radio bands reserved for government/military use. Other than greater geographic availability, what does Starlink bring to the mix? Is this just diversification (alternate/backup/parallel communication channels)?

Re: What's special here

[flyingfsck]

It will work during and after Italys frequent earthquakes.

Re:

[timeOday]

Cell-to-satellite in itself is a huge breakthrough (if it works). Remember after 911 it was quite a big deal when everybody realized that all the different agencies' tactical radios did not play well together. They spent a lot of money ironing that out (or trying and failing, not sure which).

Some emergency system sealed up a doomsday box is never going to work. You need to make the systems you use every day more robust. Everybody has a cellphone.

Re:

[laughingskeptic]

Coverage for the Ligurian Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Gulf of Tranto, Ionian Sea and Adriatic Sea is new. A whole lot of what the Italian Police and military care about occurs in places where none of the methods you mention work. The current primary option is Inmarsat, but this will allow police and military to have all the functionality of their cell phones while at sea.

Secure? LoL

[Fuzi719]

Nothing is "secure" with Musk involved. Might as well have Putin and the FSB install it.

Re:

[deKernel]

Looks like we have another person suffering from Musk Derangement Syndrome.

of course, nothing to do with this other news...

[berghem]

Italians detain Iranian citizen. Iranians want their citizen back, who is waiting for extradition from Italy to the USA. Iranians detain Italian journalist https://apnews.com/article/ita... [apnews.com]
Meloni meets Trump: "Meloni met US president-elect Donald Trump at the weekend, when the journalist's detention is thought to have been discussed" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/art... [bbc.co.uk]
Italian journalist released https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/art... [bbc.co.uk]
Meloni gives massive Italian Government contract to Musk (this post)
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