Argentina's telecommunications regulator has formalized a contract with Starlink, the satellite-internet company owned by Elon Musk, to bring connectivity to 6,000 rural and isolated schools nationwide, in a deal awarded without a public bidding process.
The agreement was made official through ENACOM Resolution 857/2026, signed by the regulator's interventor, Juan Martin Ozores, and published in the Official Bulletin on September 3. It formalizes a plan President Milei first announced on July 26 at an agricultural exhibition. Musk also referenced the program on X.
The project is valued at a combined $21.876 million. Starlink is providing $9.978 million of that as an in-kind donation: 6,000 satellite kits and 24 months of priority-access service, with up to five terabytes of data a month per site. The remaining $11.898 million comes from the state's Universal Service Fund, financed by contributions from the telecommunications sector, and covers installation, a monitoring platform and a third year of connectivity once Starlink's initial commitment ends.
After three years of nationally funded service, responsibility for keeping the connections running is expected to shift to the provinces, which would need to cover the ongoing subscription costs on their own budgets.
ENACOM formalized the contract as a direct award to Starlink rather than through a public tender. According to reporting on the resolution, the process included no price comparison or bidding against other satellite or internet providers before the company was selected.
The no-bid process has drawn criticism from ARSAT, Argentina's state-owned telecom company, which already provides connectivity to roughly 1,845 schools. ARSAT's innovation director, Ezequiel Mc Govern, said Starlink is charging $160 a month per school from the third year onward, compared with the $60 to $70 ARSAT charges for similar service, and said the national government still owes ARSAT more than $60 million for connectivity it has already provided, even as new funding goes toward the Starlink contract.
Starlink has expanded rapidly in Argentina since Milei's government lifted restrictions on the service in 2024. The company passed 700,000 users in the country by May, making Argentina one of its larger markets for satellite broadband.
The government has framed the program around closing Argentina's rural digital divide, giving students and teachers in areas without reliable terrestrial internet access to online classes and digital learning tools that have been unavailable in many remote classrooms. Neither ENACOM nor the Ministry of Human Capital has responded publicly to ARSAT's cost comparison.
Source: Enacom.gob.ar; Canal 12 Misiones; Infobae; TeslaNorth; Politica Argentina; Letra P; Indymedia Argentina; MercoPress.