Starlink awaiting final approval, including spectrum allocation, before launching services. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Bangladesh said on Friday (February 14, 2025) it had asked tech billionaire Elon Musk to bring satellite internet service Starlink to the South Asian country, as its fragile interim government seeks U.S. diplomatic support.

Mr. Musk has a highly visible White House role as President Donald Trump’s right-hand man, where his meetings with foreign leaders have raised questions over the blurring of his official roles and business interests.

The world’s richest man spoke on Thursday with Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is leading a caretaker administration in Bangladesh following a student-led revolution last year.

They discussed during a lengthy video call bringing Starlink, which provides internet access to remote locations by low Earth orbit satellites, to Bangladesh.

The pair emphasised that the service would create new opportunities for “Bangladesh’s enterprising youth, rural and vulnerable women, and remote communities”, a statement from Mr. Yunus’ media office said.

The statement added that Mr. Musk had said he was “looking forward” to visiting Bangladesh after Mr. Yunus extended him an invitation.

MR. Musk has yet to discuss the meeting publicly, including on X, the social media platform he owns and on which he chronicles his day-to-day thoughts.

The call took place the same day Mr. Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Washington at Mr. Trump’s invitation.

Mr. Modi’s government has seen deteriorating relations with Bangladesh since Mr. Yunus took office after last year’s uprising ousted autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina.

India was Ms. Hasina’s most important benefactor and she remains in exile in New Delhi, despite Bangladesh’s demands she be extradited to face trial for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the revolt that toppled her.

Denpasar:

Tech billionaire Elon Musk launched Sunday his Starlink service in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali as the country aims to extend internet to its remote areas.

Millions of people in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, are not currently hooked up to reliable internet services.

Musk, making his first visit to the Southeast Asian nation, inaugurated the satellite unit services at a clinic in Bali’s capital Denpasar on Sunday afternoon.

He also signed an agreement on the health sector along with Indonesia’s Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

Musk and the officials also attended a presentation by staff members from Indonesia’s community clinics in Bali and Maluku provinces on the acceleration of internet speeds after using Starlink.

The internet services have been pilot-tested in three health facilities in the regions to input various data sets into the national system, such as those on immunisations, child nutrition and diabetes.

“We are very excited to bring connectivity to places that either have no connectivity or, as you saw in the demonstration, very low bandwidth connectivity,” Musk said at a news conference.

“So, this can make a really lifesaver for remote medical clinics. And I think it can be transformative for education as well,” added Musk, sporting a green shirt made of traditional Balinese woven fabric called “endek”.

The Indonesian government is moving the capital from traffic-clogged Jakarta, where researchers say large areas could be underwater by 2050 due to rising sea levels and land subsidence to Nusantara.

After the trial, Starlink, which acquired a permit to operate in Indonesia earlier this month, could be rolled out commercially across the archipelago.

Starlink is already available in Southeast Asia in Malaysia and the Philippines.

Using a network of low Earth orbit satellites, Starlink can provide internet to remote locations or areas that have had normal communications infrastructure disabled.

The Indonesian government has allocated a budget to allow Starlink’s services for 10,000 state-owned clinics across the country in the initial implementation, according to Budi.

However, he did not detail the amount, saying that despite a budget limit, the allocation is expected to be “enough to cover the Starlink’s costs”.

Starlink’s services will be trialled this month in Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara on the island of Borneo, which will open its doors in August, according to officials.

According to the World Bank, about two-thirds of Indonesia’s roughly 270 million people had access to the internet as of 2022.

Besides the Starlink’s launch, Musk is scheduled on Monday to speak at the World Water Forum being held on the holiday island.

He is also due to meet President Joko Widodo during the event.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)