Starlink is an exciting new venture by SpaceX, which aims to provide high-speed internet to even the most remote areas of the world using a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit.
Do you want Starlink internet service at your house? Maybe not till the end of 2024.
Data Lake Inc. is Starlink’s integrator in the Philippines, and its head of sales and marketing, Jana Ang, has stated that home subscriptions will not be available until late 2024 or early 2025.
She made it clear that the first rollout announcement in Q1 2023 was only for enterprise customers, and the Philippines would get about 10,000 units.
Ang says that the delay is because there aren’t enough chips, which are a vital part of Starlink’s services. After all, satellite dishes use them.
In the past few months, chip shortages have been a big problem. Because of this one essential part, industries like auto and consumer electronics haven’t been able to get products out the door.
The initial cost of the said enterprise kit is Php201,600, and the monthly subscription fee is as low as Php28,000. What’s interesting is that, unlike most other fiber internet services in the country, it doesn’t have a lock-in period.
During a demo in rural banks around the country, Data Lake found that enterprise clients showed a lot of interest. For one, Starlink’s satellite internet services enabled an ATM in a remote area that had trouble connecting to the internet to work better.
Starlink is still waiting for the National Telecommunications Commission to sign off on it (NTC). The agency is already working hard to get the internet provider into the Philippines as soon as possible.
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