The president of Antel for him Broad Front (FA), Daniel Larrosa, criticized the fact that a report was not presented on the impacts that the arrival at the Uruguay from Elon Musk’s company, Starlink.
In mid-March, the Communications Services Regulatory Unit (Ursec) granted the class B license to the company starlink satellite internet service — owned by the billionaire Elon Musk— which will allow you to offer this connection mode in Uruguay.
The Ursec granted the Class B Telecommunications License to Starlink Uruguay SRL along with the authorization for the provision of data transmission service through its low orbit satellite network in the national territory, after the American company made the corresponding request for this, as Ámbito reported at the end of January .
Faced with this, Larrosa denounced that the file does not have any of the National Telecommunications Directorate (Dinatel), belonging to the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (Miem)about the possible effects that the manganese company’s arrival in the country would have.
In that sense, he assured that it is a type of management common to the current management. “Things are approved without reports. This is a common way of operating during this administration,” he said in dialogue with the radio program Nada Que Perder and added that the same thing happened with portability and with the decision of the cable operators.
The good thing about Starlink
Regarding the possible advantages that the internet company would have in Uruguay, the president assured that it would be a good option in rural sectors where coverage of Antel did not reach 100%, although he admitted that the product is much more expensive, slower and more unsafe.
“If during a thunderstorm there are things that are left without signal, in any satellite connection it will be even more evident; There is nothing to compete with against fiber optics,” he said.
On the other hand, he assured that it would not be a competition for Antel, mainly due to the high cost of installing the service. “It will compete very collaterally, unless there is some type of “dumping” such as giving you the antenna or the service. It may have a “deception effect”, or the argument of taking the connection everywhere, but that can already be done with the service of Antel”, he commented.
Starlink approval
The request was “under study” by the regulatory unit, which paid particular attention to the impact that the authorization of a new internet provider could have on the local market that, until recently, operated under the monopoly of the state company Antel.
However, Ursec decided to enable Starlink to operate in the country, considering, among other things, that the company owned by Elon Musk complies with current regulations and that its satellite network operates in accordance with the provisions of the Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union.
Likewise, it took into account that the company reported having 4,338 satellites in orbit and that it is providing services in several countries in South America.
For the authorizations to be maintained, Starlink must pay within the next 30 days the payment of 50,000 UI—about 298,995 pesos, at the current price—to obtain the class B license; and another $7,377 for the authorization of the non-geostationary satellite system.
The satellite network internet company must also “report the number of satellites that make up its network that are in operational condition in said instances,” each year between May and November; and “supply in a timely manner upon request all the information requested regarding the services provided, their technical-administrative conditions and the telecommunications systems used for this purpose,” as explained in the Ursec resolution.
Source: Ambito
