Italy and Starlink: What's at stake if a deal goes ahead?

Reports have swirled for weeks that Italy is currently in talks with several private companies, including Elon Musk's Space X, over a deal involving country's telecoms security system.

Such a deal would mean that SpaceX would provide encryption services for the Italian government and communications infrastructure for the military and emergency service — potentially over a competing European Union project set to launch in 2029.

Leader Giorgia Meloni has admitted her government is in talks with several private companies, including SpaceX, but generally pushed back on rumours over the project.

She has denied both that a deal has been reached and that she has had any private discussions with Musk, with whom she has a friendship. In January, her office issued a statement saying the matter had not been discussed in the recent meeting between Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago.

When asked by reporters, Meloni said any potential deal would be firmly based on “national interests."

Her position was echoed by Giangiacomo Calovini, an MP for the Bothers of Italy party, who told Euronews, "let’s clarify things, the government has not signed anything, even though exchanges and relations between Rome and Washington are strong."

The politician said that Meloni was "acting in Italy's and Europe's best interests. We’ll evaluate which solution will be the best, while waiting for Europe to possibly offer its guarantees, both on a technical and security level, which are not in place yet."

Calvoni's comments point to the IRIS², the EU’s 10 billion multi-orbital constellation of 290 satellites, which won’t be fully operational before 2030.

The project is one of the main pillars of the EU’s defence strategy and will also be available