Argentina’s telecommunications regulator, ENACOM, has formalized a contract with Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite-internet company, to connect 6,000 rural and isolated schools in a $21.9 million program, 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 then have to cover the subscription costs from their own budgets.
Reports on the resolution say the direct award came with no price comparison and no bidding against other satellite or internet providers.
ARSAT, Argentina’s state-owned telecom company, which already connects roughly 1,845 schools, has criticized the process. Its innovation director, Ezequiel Mc Govern, said Starlink will charge $160 a month per school from the third year onward, against the $60 to $70 ARSAT charges for similar service. He also said the national government still owes ARSAT more than $60 million for connectivity it has already provided, even as new funding goes to the Starlink contract.
Starlink has expanded rapidly in Argentina since Milei’s government lifted restrictions on the service in 2024, and passed 700,000 users in the country by May.
The government has framed the program as a way to close the rural digital divide, bringing online classes and digital learning tools to students and teachers in areas without reliable terrestrial internet. Neither ENACOM nor the Ministry of Human Capital has responded publicly to ARSAT’s cost comparison.