The Italian dossier on secure satellite communications reopens.
After talks started last year between the Rome government and Starlink, the satellite internet service of Elon Musk’s company, the Canadian Telesat has now also entered the game.
According to Reuters citing three sources close to the matter, Telesat has begun preliminary talks with Italy to provide satellite services intended for secure communications for government and military personnel operating in high-risk areas. The sources specified that these are initial discussions and that financial details have not yet been addressed.
One of the sources explained that the latest talks took place during this month, while another added that the Italian government has not yet responded to the proposal made by the Canadian company. For its part, a Telesat spokesperson stated that the group “is currently unable to comment on the matter.”
In recent months, there had also been discussions with the French company Eutelsat to provide systems for secure satellite communications.
Not to forget that what is considered today the European response to Starlink, namely Iris2, will only be active starting from 2030. In the background, but not too far, is Leonardo: the Italian defense and aerospace giant is working on its proprietary satellite constellation Space Guardian for Earth observation, aiming to have initial operational capability in orbit by early 2028.
All the details.
THE STARLINK DOSSIER AND TENSIONS BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES
The issue of satellite connectivity has become particularly sensitive in Italy after the slowdown in talks with Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite system. According to rumors that emerged at the beginning of 2025, Rome had considered a five-year agreement worth 1.5 billion euros with Starlink to offer services aimed at ensuring encrypted communications for government, diplomats, and Defense.
In January, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defended the talks with SpaceX stating that the Starlink system had “no public alternative.”
However, later Bloomberg reported growing doubts within the Italian government about the possibility of closing a deal with Musk, also in light of the perceived U.S. disengagement from European security. According to sources cited by the American agency, the link between Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump contributed to raising concerns about his reliability as a strategic partner.
THE FIGURES OF THE CANADIAN TELESAT
A year later no agreement has been reached and now another player seems to have entered the game.
Telesat Corp, a Canadian satellite operator aiming to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, states on its website that it currently operates 11 geostationary satellites and plans to launch between 150 and 200 satellites into low Earth orbit starting this year, intended for commercial and military uses.
As Reuters recalls, Leo satellites operate at a distance from Earth 36 times closer than traditional ones, reducing the time to send and receive information and providing better and faster broadband service even in remote areas.
THE COMPARISON WITH MUSK’S NETWORK
Numbers still far from those of Starlink. Musk’s company manages a global high-speed, low-latency broadband data and communications network powered by about 9,600 Starlink satellites for broadband and mobile in low Earth orbit, providing connectivity to millions of private, business, and government customers in 164 countries, territories, and other markets as of March 31, 2026. The capacity of SpaceX’s constellation continues to represent the main competitive advantage over European alternatives.
WHAT ABOUT THE PROPOSAL FROM THE FRENCH EUTELSAT?
As already mentioned, the French Eutelsat has also proposed itself as a possible partner for Italy. A year ago Reuters revealed that the European operator was in talks with the Italian government for secure satellite communication systems. The company led by Eva Berneke operates 35 geostationary satellites and about 630 low orbit satellites of the OneWeb constellation, acquired in 2023.
OneWeb today represents the second largest Leo constellation in the world after Starlink, although it remains much smaller than SpaceX’s network.
THE EXPERIMENTS WITH STARLINK IN EMBASSIES STARTED LAST YEAR
Also a year ago, the Italian government confirmed it had started some experiments with the Starlink system at Italian diplomatic offices abroad.
Responding in the Senate to a question on the topic, the Minister for Parliamentary Relations Luca Ciriani specified that contracts related to connection devices are not signed directly with SpaceX but through third-party Italian companies, including Telespazio.
THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN SPACEX AND TELESPAZIO
SpaceX signed a partnership in June 2024 with Telespazio (a joint venture between Leonardo at 67% and Thales at 33%) to integrate Starlink into the company’s global hybrid connectivity network and strengthen the service offering for institutional and industrial clients, including Defense.
However, the collaboration was not enough to definitively steer the Italian government’s choice towards Musk’s system.
In parliament, Minister Ciriani reiterated that “there has been no assignment by the Government of the country’s critical infrastructure to Starlink” and also clarified that “no technical operational table has been established at the Prime Minister’s office” for granting management of Italian diplomatic infrastructure to the American satellite network.
THE DELAY OF IRIS2 AND THE ISSUE OF EUROPEAN AUTONOMY
On the European front, the Italian government continues to follow the Iris2 project, the European Union’s satellite constellation intended to guarantee secure communications and strategic connectivity.
In December 2024, Brussels approved a project worth 10.6 billion euros to develop a multi-orbit constellation of 290 satellites, with the SpaceRISE consortium. The industrial consortium, led by Eutelsat, Ses, and Hispasat, also involves Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space, Ohb, Telespazio, Deutsche Telekom, and Orange.
However, as Ciriani himself recalled a year ago, European initiatives “will not have full operational capability before 2030.” Although at the beginning of 2026, the European Commissioner for Defense and Space, Andrius Kubilius, stated that the multi-orbit Iris2 constellation should be able to start initial services in 2029.
The delay of the European solution fuels the debate on the need to resort in the meantime to already operational systems like Starlink.
THE POSITION OF THE ITALIAN DEFENSE
Also, the Defense Minister Guido Crosetto emphasized a year ago the need to “study and evaluate every technically suitable solution to provide capabilities at least pending the completion of proprietary programs.”
Crosetto recalled that SpaceX “meets the requirements and possesses the necessary capabilities” but also highlighted that Italy could still maintain control over routing and data encryption through proprietary technologies.
LEONARDO’S CONSTELLATION OPERATIONAL IN 2028
At the same time, Leonardo is working on its own national solution. The former CEO of Leonardo, Roberto Cingolani, announced in 2025 the launch of a new constellation composed of 18 military satellites in low orbit, mainly funded by the Ministry of Defense.
The project includes 12 standard satellites and 6 infrared satellites, with launches planned between 2027 and 2028. The total estimated budget is about 900 million euros, of which 500 million have already been allocated by the Ministry of Defense. Additionally, 20 civilian satellites will be added for Earth observation, geolocation, and monitoring.
Numbers still very far from Elon Musk’s nearly 10,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.
