Page 111 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2022

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Elon Musk's SpaceX Partners with Philippine Tycoon on Satellite Service

Billionaire Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp broadband service to businesses and the government. Data
(SpaceX) is expanding into the Philippines by offering satellite Lake Inc, a Philippine-based firm partly owned by tycoon Henry
Sy Jr, said it signed a deal to be the first partner of SpaceX's
Starlink in Southeast Asia. "The Philippines is an archipelago,
and connecting our country to the wider world often requires
extensive infrastructure," Data Lake Chairman Anthony Almeda
said in a statement. The Philippines is made up of more than
7,600 islands, many of them isolated and with mountainous
terrain, making broadband coverage difficult for companies.
Around 20 tropical storms also typically hit the country every year,
often damaging infrastructure and cutting communication links
between islands and provinces. SpaceX's Starlink uses a network
of thousands of satellites to provide internet access to far-flung
regions or when communications are disrupted during natural
disasters. In the Philippines, only seven out of every 100 people
have fixed broadband subscriptions, lagging behind regional
peers like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, data from the World
Bank show. Earlier this month, the Philippines' information and
communications technology ministry said the entry of Starlink in
the Philippine market was scheduled for 2023.

Starlink Launches Internet Service for Vehicles on the Go

Space X’s satellite internet service Starlink is now taking orders for which is most inhabited places. Instead, this service is designed
a new product which provides ‘high-speed, low latency’ connectivity for when you are driving in remote areas with no service – making
to moving vehicles in remote locations. Hot on the heels of its new this another niche application, but perhaps a useful one if you do
service for connecting aircraft to high-speed web access announced find yourself on a road trip somewhere out in the sticks and don’t
last week, Starlink is now offering the same treatment to moving have any mobile coverage. How big the market is for people driving
land vehicles, utilizing its constellation of internet disseminating recreationally into deserts and other such places operators have
satellites. It seems to be an upgrade from a previously launched deemed too remote to bother with remains to be seen, but we can
‘Starlink for RVs’ service (RV, or recreational vehicle, is an American think of a couple of chaps that could have found a use for it.
word for a sort of caravan) which had the stipulation that you had
to be parked up to use it. The new service allows you to connect
to Starlink’s services while moving, which is certainly more useful
for GPS. For some reason the mobile version is called ‘Flat High
Performance’. “The new Flat High Performance Starlink allows
users to enjoy high-speed, low-latency internet while in-motion,”
reads the website. “With a wide field of view and enhanced GPS
capabilities, the Flat High Performance Starlink can connect to
more satellites, allowing for consistent connectivity on the go.”
We’re told the necessary hardware is designed for a permanent
installation on a vehicle and is resilient in harsh environments,
and both the standard and mobile versions need a clear view of
the sky to work. They’re taking orders now for the mobile version
with deliveries beginning in December. Last week Starlink started
taking orders for a 350Mbps broadband unlimited data service
for aircraft customers called Starlink Aviation, designed to allow
things like gaming and streaming to be done from the skies. So,
it’s clearly on a bit on a mission to fill every conceivable niche of
remote connectivity. Obviously, you don’t need to lean on Elon
Musk’s satellite system to get the GPS working while bombing
up the M1, or anywhere else there is terrestrial tower coverage –

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