JAKARTA: Elon Musk's SpaceX has applied to Indonesia's government for an internet service provider permit for its Starlink satellite unit, the communications ministry said on Thursday.
The application is a sign of Starlink's expansion in Southeast Asia after Malaysia issued it a license to provide internet services in the country last year, and a Philippine-based firm signed a deal with SpaceX in 2022.
Budi Arie Setiadi, Indonesia's minister of communications, said, "what's important is that we have to have a fair business, with a level-playing field."
He added Starlink will have a trial in Nusantara, Indonesia's new capital that is under construction in the jungles of Borneo island, sometime in 2024.
SpaceX's Starlink, which owns around 60 per cent of the roughly 7,500 satellites orbiting earth, is dominant in the satellite internet sphere. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Starlink has built a hub but has not fulfilled all the requirements to apply for an ISP permit, a ministry official Wayan Toni Supriyanto said. — Reuters