FILE PHOTO: SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks on a screen during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, June 29, 2021. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo
MANILA (Reuters) - Starlink, the satellite internet unit of Elon Musk's SpaceX, is on track to enter the Philippine market this year, with its broadband service to be introduced within the first quarter, its local partner said in a statement on Friday.
"We are excited to finally introduce Starlink to the Philippine market by Q1 2023," said Anthony Almeda, Vice Chairman and CEO of Data Lake Inc, a Manila-based firm he co-owns with tycoon Henry Sy Jr.
Almeda said in a statement the high-speed, low-latency broadband internet service will be "game-changing" for the Southeast Asian archipelago, where broadband coverage is patchy.
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 shows.
Data Lake Inc said Philippine customers would have to shell out an initial $599 per unit and $99 for monthly connectivity service for a download speed of 200 Mbps.
(Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz and Karen Lema; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
