It looks Starlink will soon start operations in yet another Asian nation.
According to Ivan John Uy, a Philippines Department of Information and Communications Technology representative, Starlink will be available in remote areas of the country before 2022.
During a briefing with reporters, Uy noted that Starlink was uniquely set up to help the Philippines expand high-speed internet services. He said:
[Starlink] will bridge the digital divide in an archipelagic country like the Philippines, where laying fiber cables or establishing cell towers in mountainous areas can be challenging.
As the Philippines government was already planning to cover the cost of laying fiber optic cable, the government will pick up the tab for Starlink services.
However, only specific areas will have access to the service for now.
As per Uy:
It [Starlink] will not reach the middle and southern part of the Philippines where we badly need this satellite connectivity. So it may take a bit longer before this service can be availed — until they can launch additional satellites covering Central Philippines and Southern Philippines.
SpaceX is working hard to add satellites to its already growing constellation.
The goal is to deploy at least 12,000 satellites to Low Earth Orbit to provide land, sea and air internet coverage.
To date, SpaceX has around 2,900 satellites in orbit, with the majority in the northern hemisphere.
