Indonesia will become the third South East Asian nation to gain SpaceX’s satellite service Starlink after the government granted the Elon Musk company, permission for operation with aims to expand connectivity to remote locations.
Minister Budi Arie Setiad told Reuters, Starlink gained a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) permit to operate as an internet service provider for retail customers, after it “met all requirements to commercially operate in Indonesia”.
A week-long trial will be held in Indonesia’s new state capital Nusantara this month with a launch to follow. The minister did not detail how much SpaceX paid for its licence. The company will work with local network access providers to comply with Indonesian regulations.
SpaceX was given permission to provide Starlink internet services in Malaysia in 2023, and it signed a deal to operate in the Philippines in 2022.
Reuters reported, Starlink is the dominant satellite provider as it owns 60% of the 7,500 satellites in orbit.
In the build up to this annoucnement, SpaceX signed an MoU with the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Associationsigned an MoU with the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association, pledging to deliver connectivity to remote locations in the archipalego nation.
