It has just been announced that Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) is expanding into the Philippines by offering satellite broadband service to local businesses and the government. This expansion represents the first partnership of SpaceX’s Starlink in Southeast Asia, which is being conducted with Data Lake Inc, a Philippine-based firm partly owned by local tycoon Henry Sy Jr.
The Philippines is a large archipelago and connecting it to the wider world often requires extensive infrastructure. SpaceX’s Starlink uses a network of thousands of satellites to provide internet access to far-flung regions or when communications are disrupted during natural disasters.
Only seven out of every 100 people have fixed broadband subscriptions in the country, lagging behind regional peers like Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, data from the World Bank show. It is made up of more than 7,600 islands and around 20 tropical storms also typically hit the country every year.
Earlier in October 2022, the Philippines information and communications technology ministry said the entry of Starlink in the Philippine market was scheduled for 2023.
(Source: Yahoo News)
