BEIRUT: Lebanon has granted a license to Elon Musk’s Starlink to provide satellite Internet services in the crisis-hit country known for its crumbling infrastructure.
The announcement was made late Thursday by Information Minister Paul Morcos who said Starlink will provide Internet services throughout Lebanon via satellites operated by Musk’s SpaceX.
The announcement came nearly three months after Musk spoke with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun by telephone and told him about his interest in working in the country’s telecommunications and Internet sectors.
During the same Cabinet meeting, the government named regulatory authorities for the country’s electricity and telecommunications sectors.
Naming a regulatory authority for Lebanon’s corruption-plagued electricity sector has been a key demand by international organizations.
The naming of a regulatory authority for the electricity sector was supposed to be done more than 20 years ago but there have been repeated delays by the country’s authorities. The move is seen as a key reform for a sector that wastes over $1 billion a year in the small Mediterranean nation.
State-run Electricite du Liban, or EDL, is viewed as one of Lebanon’s most wasteful institutions and plagued by political interference. It has cost state coffers about $40 billion since the 1975-90 civil war ended.
Since taking office earlier this year, Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have vowed to work on implementing reforms and fighting corruption and decades-old mismanagement to get Lebanon out of an economic crisis that the World Bank has described as among the world’s worst since the 1850s.
Lebanon has for decades faced long hours of electricity cuts but the situation became worse following an economic meltdown that began in late 2019. The 14-month Israel-Hebzollah war that ended in late November also badly damaged electricity and other infrastructure in parts of Lebanon.
In April, the World Bank said it will grant Lebanon a $250 million loan that will be used to help ease electricity cuts.
Lebanon licenses Elon Musk’s Starlink for satellite Internet services
https://arab.news/gxthe
Lebanon licenses Elon Musk’s Starlink for satellite Internet services
- Starlink will provide Internet services throughout Lebanon via satellites operated by Musk’s SpaceX
- The announcement came nearly three months after Musk spoke with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun
Tunisian police arrest member of parliament who mocked president
- Ahmed Saidani mocked the president in a Facebook post, describing him as the “supreme commander of sewage and rainwater drainage”
TUNIS: Tunisian police arrested lawmaker Ahmed Saidani on Wednesday, two of his colleagues said, in what appeared to be part of an escalating crackdown on critics of President Kais Saied.
Saidani has recently become known for his fierce criticism of Saied. On Tuesday, he mocked the president in a Facebook post, describing him as the “supreme commander of sewage and rainwater drainage,” blasting what he said was the absence of any achievements by Saied.
Saidani was elected as a lawmaker at the end of 2022 in a parliamentary election with very low voter turnout, following Saied’s dissolution of the previous parliament and dismissal of the government in 2021.
Saied has since ruled by decree, moves the opposition has described as a coup.
Most opposition leaders, some journalists and critics of Saied, have been imprisoned since he seized control of most powers in 2021.
Activists and human rights groups say Saied has cemented his one-man rule and turned Tunisia into an “open-air prison” in an effort to suppress his opponents. Saied denies being a dictator, saying he is enforcing the law and seeking to “cleanse” the country.
Once a supporter of Saied’s policies against political opponents, Saidani has become a vocal critic in recent months, accusing the president of seeking to monopolize all decision-making while avoiding responsibility, leaving others to bear the blame for problems.
Last week, Saidani also mocked the president for “taking up the hobby of taking photos with the poor and destitute,” sarcastically adding that Saied not only has solutions for Tunisia but claims to have global approaches capable of saving humanity.
Under Tunisian law, lawmakers enjoy parliamentary immunity and cannot be arrested for carrying out their duties, although detention is allowed if they are caught committing a crime.
