Billionaire Elon Musk‘s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) is expanding into the Philippines by offering satellite broadband services to businesses and the government, its local partner said on Thursday. Data Lake Inc, a Philippine firm partly owned by tycoon Henry Sy Jr., said it has signed an agreement to become SpaceX’s first Starlink partner in Southeast Asia.
“The Philippines is an archipelago, and connecting our country to the wider world often requires extensive infrastructure,” Data Lake Chairman Anthony Almeda said in a statement. The Philippines consists of more than 7,600 islands, many of which are isolated and have mountainous terrain, making it difficult for businesses to get broadband coverage. The country is also typically hit by about 20 tropical storms each year, often damaging infrastructure and cutting communication links between islands and provinces.
SpaceX’s Starlink uses a network of thousands of satellites to provide Internet access to remote areas or in the event of communication disruptions during natural disasters. In the Philippines, only seven out of every 100 people have fixed broadband, lagging behind regional competitors such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, World Bank data shows. Earlier this month, the Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology said Starlink is slated to enter the Philippine market in 2023.
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