According to the latest report, the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Thursday that SpaceX, the space exploration technology company owned by US billionaire Elon Musk, will launch the Starlink satellite Internet service in the Philippines.
Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said he recently met with SpaceX executives Rebecca Hunter and Ryan Goodnight, as well as Philippine International Communications Commissioner (NTC) Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios and DFNN Executive Chairman Lamon Garcia Jr. discuss bringing Starlink to the Philippines.
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Lopez revealed that SpaceX’s commercial license application is being processed, while the company is looking for a location for its gateway. The company is setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary in the Philippines with the goal of deploying three gateways in the first phase of the rollout. However, Lopez did not specify a timeline for the launch of the Starlink Internet service or SpaceX’s investment figures.
“By mid-2021, the Starlink network already includes more than 1,600 satellites, and it will eventually consist of thousands of small satellites operating in low-Earth orbit with designated ground transceivers to communicate.”
Moreover, Lopez said the launch of Starlink will allow the country to have faster broadband speeds, better connections, greater capacity, and cheaper rates for telecommunications services.
He said: “Starlink will expand and supplement existing broadband capacity. This will further expand the capabilities of micro, small and medium enterprises, and promote online learning, e-commerce, and fintech development.”
Edward Jay Enriquez, a 21-year-old college student from Bataan Samar, hopes that the introduction of Starlink will make the internet in the Philippines more accessible and affordable.
“When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, all aspects of our education moved online, and it was hard for me to keep up because where I lived, there was no stable internet to rely on,” he said. “Subscribing to a mobile data plan was too expensive.”
The arrival of the chain in the Philippines is a welcome development, especially for those of us who live nearby. I hope that eventually, we can get an ISP with a good quality of service and not so much expense.”
SpaceX is one of the few companies that support high-speed internet service via a network of satellites in low Earth orbit. The Starlink network is designed to provide Internet access services in remote areas or when communications are disrupted during natural disasters. Such satellite internet systems transmit signals from the atmosphere to antenna receivers on the ground.
According to SpaceX, Starlink’s data transfer speeds range from 100Mbps to 200Mbps. This high-speed connection was previously impossible with traditional satellite internet. SpaceX is a frontrunner in this type of technology, having signed up more than 100,000 users globally for the Starlink beta since late 2020.
Furthermore, countries, where Starlink provides Internet access services, include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. Amazon is also developing its own satellite internet, called Kuiper Systems, but has yet to put any satellites into orbit.
