Commissions invited Fábio Faria to talk about a possible partnership with Starlink; deputy criticizes and speaks of “promise”
Billionaire Elon Musk came to Brazil last Friday (May 20, 2022), met with authorities, announced the connection of 19,000 schools and monitoring of the Amazon, but did not close a formal agreement, the Power 360.
In the case of school connectivity, there is an informal commitment that Starlink, Musk’s company, will invest in the necessary infrastructure to make the connection possible in the future.
On Wednesday (May 25), 4 committees of the Chamber of Deputies invited Minister Fábio Faria (Communications) to provide clarification on the meeting with Musk and the possible partnership between the government and Starlink. The joint meeting is scheduled for June 8.
“What has been done is that there is no agreement between the Brazilian government and Elon Musk’s companies. What exists is a kind of promise or a piece of propaganda. This is what we want to clarify in the Financial Inspection and Control Commission”, said to Power 360 the deputy Ivan Valente (Psol-SP), author of the application approved by the commission.
The deputy also stated that the technical advisory is evaluating whether there is competition in the market. To participate in education connectivity programs and provide monitoring services, Starlink must win a public bid.
When a competitive process is not possible — in cases where there are no other companies providing the same service, for example — the government is exempted by law from publishing a bid. That could be the way to hire Musk’s company.
“But it’s hard to say there’s no competition, there certainly is. But we will check this issue. his company [Musk] it’s not a monopoly. The issue of monitoring, we already know that his company is not the only one that does it, for example“, said.
wanted by Power 360 to comment on whether there is an agreement or the launch of a tender to provide these services, the Ministry of Communications said that “there is interest on the part of the federal government to expand connectivity services in the country and to promote the formalization of partnerships with the private sector, as provided for by law, in a legal and transparent manner”.
STARLINK
Starlink has a constellation of satellites in low orbit, called non-geostationary satellites. In January, it obtained approval from the Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) to offer services in Brazil, operating 4,408 artifacts.
It is also studying how to obtain a concession to offer internet services to planes, an issue raised at the meeting in Porto Feliz, in the interior of São Paulo.
The Ministry of Communications intends to connect all public schools without internet by the end of the year, as announced by Minister Fábio Faria in a ceremony in April. The folder has the Wi-Fi Brasil program, in partnership with Telebras and RNP (National Education and Research Network).
In November 2021, Faria met Elon Musk in the United States. “We are working to close this important partnership between the Brazilian government and the company SpaceX [também de Musk]. We want to combine the technology developed by them with the Wi-Fi Brasil program, from the Ministry of Communications”, he said at the time.
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