President Dr Irfaan Ali held a meeting with the founder of Space X and Tesla, tech giant Elon Musk virtually from the Office of the President on July 19, 2024. Photo: Kaieteur News

Starlink is operated by Starlink Services, LLC, an international telecommunications provider that is a wholly owned subsidiary of American aerospace company SpaceX, providing coverage to over 100 countries and territories. It also aims to provide global mobile broadband. Starlink has been instrumental to SpaceX’s growth.

During his end-of-year, press conference, on Monday Prime Minister, Mark Phillips explained that the government has held and is continuing to have discussions with the company. “Starlink has an application on file and it’s going through the process. We’ve had discussions with Starlink. The discussions are ongoing. And I envision it will reach to a point where the other 124 countries in the world where Starlink has contracts, we will reach to the point where we will have a licence.”

“In terms of a timeframe, I would say as early as possible because those discussions are ongoing. You may recall the President himself had a conversation with Mr. Elon Musk. And I myself had conversations with senior executives of Starlink. And we’re moving towards licensing them in the shortest possible time,” PM Phillips who has oversight for the telecommunication sector in the country revealed.

Last November at his weekly press conference Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had revealed that Starlink’s interest is “actively being considered” by the Government. He explained then that if the licence is approved, it means the company will have to pay taxes to the Government.

He noted that at present private individuals would import the Starlink equipment and provide internet services to sections of the local population. “Right now, a lot of people are just bringing in the dish themselves, and they’re installing these dishes, and then they don’t have to pay any taxes. It’s a bit unfair to the other companies that are providing the same service,” he explained. Jagdeo noted the broader scope of the digital transformation underway in Guyana and that was one of the dominant topics discussed between President Ifraan Ali and tech giant Elon Musk, founder of Space X, in July.