Elon Musk’s SpaceX Finds First Partner of Starlink Satellite Service in Southeast Asia

Philippine-based firm Data Lake Inc. led by billionaire Henry Sy Jr. signed a deal to be the first partner of Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) in Southeast Asia, it announced on Oct. 27.

“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.

With more than 7,600 islands, many parts of the country are isolated and have mountainous terrains that make broadband coverage challenging. Moreover, about 20 tropical storms hit the Philippines annually, damaging infrastructure and cutting communication links between islands and provinces. With SpaceX, its Starlink service will be able to reach unserved and underserved areas and solve potential communication issues brought by natural disasters.

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation by SpaceX that uses a low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite system to provide low-latency, high bandwidth broadband internet service anywhere around the world. In May, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) approved the registration of SpaceX subsidiary Starlink Internet Services Philippines, Inc.