The Starlink train is moving worldwide and is stopping over in Pakistan, where SpaceX has finally been registered to start offering the service. The service should have rolled out earlier but had been delayed by security concerns.
SpaceX’s director of global licensing and market activation, Ryan Goodnight, met with Pakistan’s minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haq to discuss setting up business in the Asian country.
The minister posted an update on Twitter, hailing the step as potentially bringing fast and cheap satellite internet to Pakistan. Haq was optimistic Starlink would help reduce operational costs of telecom companies and enable people in remote areas to get on the internet, as reported by the Pakistan Observer.
Haq said Starlink would be rolled out everywhere in Pakistan at affordable prices.
وفاقی وزیر آئی ٹی و ٹیلی کمیونیکیشن سید امین الحق سے گلوبل ڈائریکٹر اسپیس ایکس کی ملاقات
اسپیس ایکس کی کمپنی اسٹار لنک نے ایس ای سی پی میں اپنی رجسٹریشن کرالی ہے، پاکستان میں تیزترین اور ارزاں سیٹیلائٹ انٹرنیٹ سروسز کی راہیں ہموار ہورہی ہیں، امین الحق pic.twitter.com/SKutv8NhMo
— Ministry of IT & Telecom (@MoitOfficial) March 22, 2023
Goodnight thanked the minister and other officials present and expressed his company’s support for Pakistan’s effort to develop its IT sector.
SpaceX reportedly asked eager subscribers to pay a refundable deposit for the hardware and service, but the authorities stopped it.
SpaceX has more than 3,000 satellites in orbit, and the dish is available for rent in 18 countries, with more than one million subscribers. It recently went live in Haiti.
