Bolivia's centrist President Rodrigo Paz has signed a decree waiving restrictions on international satellite internet companies, including Starlink and Kuiper, in a bid to improve the country's notoriously slow internet connectivity. The move reverses a decision by the previous socialist administration of Luis Arce, which had refused to grant a license to SpaceX's Starlink last year, citing data protection and national sovereignty concerns.
For years, Bolivia has relied on a Chinese satellite, the Tupac Katari, purchased in 2013 under former left-wing leader Evo Morales. Morales had promised the satellite would “enlighten the people,” but its geostationary technology, orbiting 35,000 kilometres from Earth, failed to significantly speed up connections. In contrast, Starlink's satellites orbit at just 550 kilometres, enabling faster data transmission.
A November report by Ookla found Bolivia had the slowest mobile and fixed broadband internet speeds in South America, with Brazil leading the region. The sluggish connectivity hampers simple tasks like conference calls and more complex operations such as cloud computing. President Paz stated the decree aims to “reduce the digital divide” and guarantee high-quality connectivity for Bolivians.
Paz also announced that international companies, including Tesla, Amazon, Tether, and Oracle, plan to invest in data centres near El Alto and Cochabamba. The president has been seeking foreign investment to address an economic crisis marked by severe dollar shortages. Earlier this week, he signed a decree eliminating fuel subsidies, which had strained public finances and worsened dollar shortages, sparking protests from labour unions.
