Venezuela's Conatel grants Starlink formal nationwide operating license
SpaceX · Digitel
Conatel gave Starlink a general license plus seven Ku-band concessions to operate across Venezuela, per El Nacional and Reuters.
what happened
Venezuela's telecom regulator Conatel formally authorized SpaceX's Starlink to operate nationwide on Oct. 9, granting a general enabling license (HGTS-00639) plus seven general concessions in the Ku band to local subsidiary SpaceX VZ, S.C.A., per El Nacional and Reuters. The grant follows a temporary test authorization after Venezuela's June 24 earthquakes, during which more than 1,600 Starlink terminals supported disaster response and the network's Direct-to-Device messaging was validated across the country's three mobile operators.
why it matters
Starlink kits had been quietly usable in Venezuela since February through imports and roam plans, but the formal license gives the service a local domicile, regulatory oversight, and domestic billing and hardware delivery, plus a path to commercial D2D partnerships with carriers like Digitel. For resellers and investors tracking Starlink's market-access wins in politically fraught Latin American markets, a full national license in Venezuela is a notable regulatory breakthrough even though informal access already existed.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- SpaceX, Digitel
- Category
- regulatory
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-10-09
- Published
- 2026-10-10 05:28 UTC