Controversy Mounts Over Elon Musk's Starlink in Indonesia; Kominfo Clarifies

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Information (Kominfo) director for telecommunications, Aju Widya Sari, assured that the presence of Elon Musk's satellite-based internet service provider, Starlink, will be fair and beneficial to all parties in the country.

“Of course, we don't just let them come as they are. There are many conditions or prerequisites that they need to know and we need to make sure that everything can proceed fairly and well,” Aju said on Monday, Nov. 27.

Any foreign investment in satellites penetrating the country would be assured of bringing healthy competition with the existing domestic telecommunications industry. Aju said the investment must also be profitable for the Indonesian government, and most importantly, meet the needs of the people.

She noted that at least 1,020 villages are still classified as blank spot areas as they lack signals from telecommunications towers. The current choice of cellular networks is also limited and not yet fully covered by fiber optics, with some resolved by radio (microwave link) and satellite (VSAT).

Meanwhile, conventional satellites are limited in terms of capacity and rental costs. For this reason, the new technology offered by Elon Musk could be a solution to overcome the blank spots across the archipelago, including in frontier, outermost, and remote (3T) areas.

Aju confirmed that the Kominfo Ministry is still processing Starlink’s landing rights permit. Despite the ongoing licensing process, Starlink on its page states its confidence that it could begin operations in Indonesia in 2024.

ANTARA

Editor's Choice: Elon Musk Says Starlink will Provide Gaza Connectivity for Aid Groups

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News