Italy is in advanced talks with Elon Musk’s SpaceX over a 1.5 billion euro ($1.55 billion) deal to provide a secure communications network for the government, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
The talks are ongoing and no final agreement has been reached on the five-year contract, but the Italian Defense Ministry has already approved the project, Reuters reported.
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SpaceX and the Italian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment outside regular business hours.
The report said the deal includes SpaceX providing Italy with a full suite of encryption services for phone and internet services used by the government.
It added that the deal also includes communications services for the Italian military in the Mediterranean region and the provision of satellite services in Italy for use in emergencies such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters.
The news comes after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday that she was ready to work with Donald Trump after a surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet the president-elect ahead of his inauguration on March 20.
Meloni has a close relationship with Musk, a close ally of Trump.
Reuters reported last month that Italy plans to begin testing as early as January to see if satellite-based communications provided by Musk’s Starlink are a viable solution to speed up the country’s high-speed internet.
