Elon Musk Invited to Help Increase Indonesia’s Internet Accessibility
On Monday, Indonesia and SpaceX, the rocket company owned by Elon Musk, successfully launched the biggest telecommunication satellite of the country from the US. The project, which cost $540 million, aims to connect the remote areas of the archipelago to the internet.
About two-thirds of Indonesia’s 280 million people already use the Internet, but connections are limited in the Southeast Asian country’s remote, underdeveloped eastern islands.
“Satellite technology will accelerate internet access to villages in areas where fiber cannot reach in the next 10 years,” Indonesia’s senior minister Mahfud MD said in a statement ahead of the launch.
The 4.5-tonne Republic of Indonesia satellite (SATRIA-1) was built by Thales Alenia Space and launched into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, then returned to an offshore area in a precision landing.
The satellite occupies an orbit above Indonesia’s East Papua region. It has a capacity of 150 gigabytes per second and will provide Internet access to 50,000 public service points, the Indonesian government said.
The project is a public-private partnership between the government and Indonesian satellite service provider PT Satelit Nusantara Tiga.
