Who will pay for Starlink? An issue that is being debated on both sides of the Atlantic, after contradictory messages from Elon Musk, head of SpaceX, the company that provides this high-speed Internet connection service via satellite. Proposed to the Ukrainian army to compensate for the lack of telecommunications infrastructure destroyed during the war against Russia, the Starlink service will cost several hundred million euros in the coming months. A price that could – at least in part – pay the European Union, reports the Politico media.
contractual agreement
On October 14, CNN revealed a letter from SpaceX, addressed to the Pentagon, asking the US authorities to put their hands in their pockets to finance the shipment of the Starlink satellite dishes and the monthly price of the service, instead of the company. Faced with the clamor that this request generated, Elon Musk finally promised that SpaceX would finance the operation with its own funds. But for the EU, depending on the goodwill of one man is too risky.
With Politico, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, assures that the issue of financing Starlink in Ukraine was discussed during the meeting of the 27 EU Foreign Ministers, this Monday, October 17.
He also believes that such a crucial tool for the Ukrainians cannot depend on the will of a “super powerful” individual who could change his mind overnight.
The member of the Lithuanian Government assures that the issue was raised by Josep Borrell, the head of diplomacy of the European Union. At the moment, no information has been disclosed about a possible list of affected European countries or about the part of the Starlink financing that the European Union could support.
Source: BFM TV
