Malacañang Palace said last Friday that it expects more affordable internet services in the Philippines once SpaceX, a company owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, arrives in the country.
The statement came after it’s been confirmed that SpaceX is in the early stages of bringing its Starlink internet service to the Philippines, which should make the country the first to host it in Southeast Asia.
Presidential spokesperson Kristian Ablan said in a Palace briefing that SpaceX’s entrance would mean faster broadband speeds and will beef up the capacity of the telecom service in the Philippines.
SEE ALSO: Starlink in the Philippines: What you need to know about the satellite internet from SpaceX
Ablan added that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is preparing to register SpaceX as the next internet provider in the country.
Last Thursday, SpaceX executives Rebecca Hunter and Ryan Goodnight met with the DTI, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and DFNN.
For a quick background, SpaceX’s Starlink service currently has a constellation of 1,600 low-orbit satellites that aims to beam internet connection directly to customers, especially those who are in far-flung and hard-to-reach areas.
Via: GMA News
I guess I’m not sure how it would push down the cost of broadband. The prices are already ok, the issue is reliability and availability. I do see SpaceX helping in the province where other solutions are not available, so it hits there. But, the monthly cost is fairly top tier and you have a recent price increase and upfront hardware and installation costs. I think Converge has been really competitive and has done really solid investments in infrastructure, and PLDT/Globe have done a lot to roll out 5G. I’m less impressed with Dito, but it requires a lot of work to build what they need to build–so give them time. I just feel like the SpaceX hype is a bit too much. They seem to be expecting a lot out of it without properly understanding its limitations.