TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Starlink satellite internet system, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is set to boost competition in Indonesia’s internet service business. Budi Arie Setiadi, Indonesian Minister of Communications and Information Technology (Kominfo), guaranteed that the US company would not cause harm to the existing ecosystem of local internet service providers (ISPs).
“No need to worry. The price [of Starlink] it is not competitive with those from Indonesia. It is more suitable for 3T (underdeveloped, frontier, outermost) regions, not cities,” Budi said at the Kominfo Ministry office in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, May 7.
Budi explained that Starlink’s service coverage would reach areas with geographical challenges and have not received local networks because it uses satellite technology, namely the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite.
At present, Starlink has owned the Operational Eligibility Test (ULO), allowing it to legally operate as a telecommunications provider in the archipelago.
Budi said the trial run is scheduled to take place in the Nusantara State Capital (IKN) in mid-May 2024. He also confirmed that Starlink would be fully operational this year.
On its sales page, Starlink sets the price for monthly internet services at Rp750,000, excluding hardware costs of Rp7,800,000 and shipping and handling costs of Rp345,000. Prospective buyers could also get a free 30-day trial.
Despite the hefty cost, an X (formerly Twitter) account, @rindipuxxx, who has tried the service claimed that Starlink’s internet speed could reach over 300 megabytes per second (Mbps).
Meanwhile, the price of an internet subscription in Indonesia is currently around Rp300,000 per month.
According to Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index data, Indonesia’s internet speed as of March 2024 is ranked 8th in ASEAN with a speed of 29.3 Mbps for fixed broadband, far below Singapore’s 284 Mbps. Meanwhile, the country’s mobile internet speed is ranked seventh in ASEAN with a speed of 25 Mbps, far below Brunei’s 103 Mbps.
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