Musk’s Starlink interested in offering Internet on flights in Brazil, according to Anatel

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Following the trip to Brazil by billionaire Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, Starlink, and SpaceX, the president of the national telecommunications authority Anatel, Carlos Manuel Baigorri, told columnist Malu Gastar of O Globo newspaper that the businessman is also interested in offering Internet on commercial flights in the country.

In addition to promising to connect 19,000 schools in rural areas, Musk and Starlink executives have also signaled to Anatel advisors that they will seek approval to offer broadband Internet to passengers in that category of air travel.

“He was very interested in the commercial aviation market and asked about the need for a grant to provide Internet on commercial aircraft,” Baigorri said.

According to the Anatel president, the conversation with Musk was about him providing explanations on how these procedures – in this case, an SLP (private limited service) grant – would work. Baigorri said this process is also “quite simple” and could be approved within ten business days.

Last month, Starlink reached an agreement with Hawaiian Airlines to provide the service free of charge on domestic flights in the U.S. territory and on the company’s international flights to Oceania and Asia.

Musk, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at US$230 billion (about R$1 trillion), met with President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the hinterland of São Paulo on May 20. The event brought together business people and senior members of the federal government.

“We want, need, and count on Elon Musk to make the Amazon known in Brazil and around the world how lush this region is and how it is preserved,” Bolsonaro told Musk during an event at a Porto Feliz hotel.

Bolsonaro also said that the billionaire “could also be concerned only about himself,” but out of altruism he has decided to travel the world to defend people’s freedom.