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Musk has been eyeing neighbouring India – a country of 1.4bn people – for a while, with a deal reportedly in talks.
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service has been granted a licence to operate in Sri Lanka after the South Asian nation passed a new telecommunications bill last month.
Starlink, which is part of Musk’s private space-tech company SpaceX, provides high-speed internet to remote parts of the world via low Earth orbit satellites, which usually operate at altitudes of up to 2,000km from the Earth’s surface and can provide cheaper and more efficient connectivity than those at higher altitudes.
The service is available in most parts of Western and Central Europe, North and South America, South East Asia, Oceania and Japan, as well as in some parts of Africa. As of late last month, there were more than 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, according to astronomer Jonathan McDowell who tracks the constellation on his website.
Sri Lanka marks the first South Asian country to green light Starlink in its skies, potentially boosting its chances of bagging an Indian licence. Musk has been eyeing India – a country of 1.4bn people – for a while now, and with talks of a potential deal being reported.
According to Reuters, Musk first approached Sri Lanka with the Starlink proposal in March. The country amended national laws last month to pave the way for Starlink to start operations through a paid licence.
The idea behind Starlink satellites is to make high-speed internet more accessible to remote parts of the world, including the Black Valley in Co Kerry. Earlier this year, Musk launched Starlink satellite internet services in Indonesia to boost connectivity in remote parts of the island nation. The company currently owns around 60pc of active satellites orbiting Earth.
Just last week, China launched its own version of Starlink satellites to compete with SpaceX in providing high-speed internet services from space. Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, a state-owned company that makes low Earth orbit satellites similar to Starlink, launched 18 satellites into space.
SpaceX is the foremost private space-tech company in the world. It was recently selected by NASA to create a spacecraft that will de-orbit the International Space Station when it comes to the end of its life at the end of the decade.
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