Beirut – Elon Musk’s delegation from Starlink discussed President Joseph Orn, Telecommunications Minister Charles Haji (Minister of Lebanon), and many ministers to grant the company a license to be a service provider rather than an internet distributor.
Since 2009, Lebanon has received internet access via two submarine cables: Cadmus and Imewe. The latter is the main source of the burden of providing internet services, and the former serves as a backup.
The StarLink system consists of thousands of satellites located in low-earth orbits not provided by traditional Internet service systems.
Created to connect remote and war zones to the internet. In the United Arab Emirates, for example, wealthy people use Starlink. Because they want to spend time on yachts at the sea without the internet.
Providing internet services directly to customers via satellite completely eliminates surveillance of Lebanon’s security agencies and further promotes security breaches.
Previously, StarLink systems were operating illegally. For some of this, the US Surveillance Den (Embassy) in Beirut has put great pressure on consecutive communications ministries to grant such concessions to Starlink (which requires Congressional approval under Article 15 of the Communications Act).
This issue is not solely related to security concerns. It links directly to the earthquake impact for the Ministry of Telecommunications. Once Starlink is permitted to provide Internet services, it seizes all rights granted only to MTC, Alfa, and Ogero (local communications).
Additionally, Starlink will become the biggest competitor in the public telecom sector.
Speaking to Tehran Times, the experts wondered: “What will the Ministry of Public Treasury get from Starlink’s license? Nothing. According to the logic of privatization, the company can get a rare frequency that was undoubtedly to be sold for billions of dollars and pave it to take Starlink to take Lebanon’s data services market.”
MP Ibrahim al-Musawi, a member of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc, had urged the Minister of Communications to postpone it before granting Starlink a license.
Expressing concern over this dangerous move, Al Masawi warned that “we want the highest level of efficiency in the communications sector, but with security considerations in mind, this is the responsibility of all security agencies necessary to demonstrate the highest level of doubt and doubt.”
In his ability as head of the Congressional Media and Communications Commission, Hezbollah MP asked, “Do these external pressures impose new reality on Lebanon regarding communications?”
Al Musawi repeatedly said that exclusivity should not be granted to a single company in order for the government to earn a higher profit,” urging the Telecommunications Minister to postpone it.
Tele-Expert told Tehran Times that the global telecommunications market is focused on data rather than mobile or fixed-line services. So selling frequency exclusively to Elon Musk’s StarLink doesn’t generate significant revenue from the Public Treasury, but it brings closer to sector bankruptcy and unemployment.
Experts estimated that in addition to the inevitable transfer of profits overseas, Starlink could potentially be deprived of approximately 25% of its customers by internet companies.
Privacy is not just a threat to Lebanon’s telecom sector. Public Works Minister Phase Rasamni (Minister of Progressive Socialist Party – Walid Jamblatt) has submitted a proposal to the government, which aims to privatize airports and ports through building operation transfer (BOT) contracts, under the pretext of “bank boredom” in the state.
Lebanon has previously experienced the consequences of privatization and has proven ineffective!
On the contrary, privatization would involve abandoning any aspect of its sovereignty and waiving every aspect of its sovereignty, in order to abandon the reconstruction of areas that were destroyed during the ongoing US-led Israeli attacks, paying termination compensation to public sector employees, paying social security benefits, and repaying flattened deposits for the Air Force by political oligarchyky and others.
Are these the promised “reforms” of the new Lebanon that will be its future and data subject?