The Milei government approved the Starlink plan to connect 6000 schools across the country

The Milei Government formally approved the revolutionary Starlink plan to provide high-speed satellite connectivity to 6,000 public and private schools with zero fees throughout the national territory. The historic measure, formalized on Tuesday, September 2 by the National Communications Entity (ENACOM) through Resolution 857/2026 published in the Official Bulletin of the Nation, crowns the excellent political relationship and ideological affinity that President Javier Milei has consolidated with SpaceX owner Elon Musk.

Both leaders, recognized defenders of free markets, deregulation, and reducing the State, had already manifested this alliance in February 2025 when Musk received from the Argentine president a chainsaw with the legendary inscription "Long live freedom, damn it". Today, this communion of ideas translates into an unprecedented technological leap for Argentine education.

The total program represents an officially assigned budget of u$s21.876 million. In a gesture of enormous business generosity, Starlink will contribute a donation package valued at u$s9.978 million, consisting of 6,000 satellite connectivity kits, all their accessories, and 24 months of high-speed, low-latency internet service. For its part, ENACOM will assume the operational and installation costs totaling u$s11.898 million.

Following the current administration's strict principles of fiscal efficiency, these resources will not come from any general educational budget item but will be drawn from the Universal Service Fund, a trust funded by the mandatory contribution of 1% of the billing of telecommunications companies themselves.

It is noteworthy that, in a show of institutional transparency, the government of Javier Milei dissolved the opaque fiduciary structure of this fund in 2025, but maintained the obligation for telecommunications companies to make contributions to allocate them to truly productive purposes.

The implementation of the program will be articulated under a tripartite agreement that includes the Ministry of Human Capital, while the Secretariat of Education will select the beneficiary institutions, prioritizing those that lack connection or suffer from poor access.

Each school will receive the prestigious "impact plan" from Starlink, which guarantees 2 terabytes of data of priority connectivity, an additional reserve of up to 5 terabytes, preferential support, and a public IP address for exclusive and irrevocable use for the program.

The technical provision of the equipment will be carried out in an orderly manner in four successive phases: the first two will consist of the delivery of 1,000 terminals each with their respective portion of the service, and the final two will complete the distribution with 2,000 units per delivery.

The meticulous economic detail stipulated in the government resolution shows that during the first year, ENACOM will disburse u$s4.266 million plus VAT to cover the physical installation of the 6,000 terminals, the management of the satellite network, incident support, and access to an API platform for real-time technical monitoring. In the second and third years, the agency will pay u$s2.016 million plus VAT annually to maintain these assistance services.

Additionally, once the first 24 months of free connection donated by Elon Musk's company expire, the State will allocate u$s3.6 million, VAT included to contract a full third year of high-speed satellite internet.

All payments will be made against billing from Starlink Argentina —a subsidiary authorized to operate in the country since February 2024— using only authorized distributors of the company to ensure the highest standards of the global market.

Although the official resolution maintains the program budget at u$s21.876 million, a thorough tax analysis reveals that applying the general VAT rate of 21% on the charges established "plus VAT" (which total u$s8.298 million), the final disbursement from the Universal Service Fund would effectively rise to u$s13.64 million, raising the consolidated investment to about u$s23.62 million.

This plan, which will last for three years automatically extendable for another equal period, represents a resounding victory for Javier Milei's administration, demonstrating that with political will, clear rules of the game, and Argentina's insertion into the free world, it is possible to settle historical infrastructure debts intelligently and without wasting State resources.