Starlink, Elon Musk’s low-orbit satellite Internet service, may have already received the initial ground to begin offering the Philippines low-orbit satellite internet service. Despite this, competition is inevitable since more firms are also looking to enter the local market with a similar offering.
As one example, SES, a Luxembourg-based company, will be launching six of its 11 satellites in the Philippines, a satellite constellation it calls O3b mPower, as part of its expansion into the Philippines. As the director of SES’s Business Development Network, Rob Marabut, claims that the plans are all set to offer its services to the Filipino people by 2023.
There is also another firm that is planning to enter the competition – Quicksilver Satcom Ventures, a local startup. Using satellite internet technology, the company wishes to improve internet penetration in the underserved areas of the nation by enhancing internet penetration in regions with poor coverage.
As part of its plan to develop partnerships with private clients and local government units to establish service areas, Quicksilver uses funds from the Ignite Impact Fund to play a significant role in the country’s economic progress.
In a briefing on June 22, 2022, Jose del Rosario, research director of the satellite and space consultancy firm Northern Sky Research, said that satellites could be a way to close the digital divide because they could reach areas where existing infrastructures could not.
Satellite-based internet has the potential to address many of the problems that can arise with fiber and wire-based services; however, affordability could be an issue.
