Venezuela has authorized Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service to operate in the country, formally lifting a ban put in place under ousted president Nicolas Maduro, a fierce critic of the tech billionaire.
The National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) announced on Friday that it had granted seven licenses to SpaceX’s Venezuela subsidiary to operate the Starlink service throughout the country. Before the formal authorization, an estimated 3.6 percent of internet users in Venezuela were already accessing the web through Starlink, according to APNIC data. Musk announced shortly after Maduro’s capture in January 2026 that the Starlink service would be free for a month for Venezuelan users.
After Maduro’s fall, Starlink executives “felt they would no longer face problems on the US side and began to move more openly in Venezuela.
READ MORE| “Fair Policy”: India Rejects Elon Musk’s “Starlink Stalled” Claim US sanctions on Venezuela before Maduro’s capture had also prevented Starlink from operating in the country, according to Andres Azpurua, director of VE Sin Filtro, an NGO dedicated to promoting digital freedom. But the local regulatory problem still existed,” Azpurua said.
