PT&T partners with Australia’s Netlinkz for direct selling of Starlink

Philippine Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (PT&T) has partnered with Australian technology firm Netlinkz to be able to offer Starlink satellite-based internet service to remote areas in the country, the firm announced Wednesday.

In a regulatory filing, PTT said the partnership will allow customers in the Philippines to directly purchase the internet services of Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), primarily for businesses in remote areas.

It will offer the Starlink kit, which will give customers access to various monthly plans tailored for enterprise and maritime customers with different pricing options. It promises peak download speeds of up to 350 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 40 Mbps.

“We are thrilled to bring Starlink to the Philippines and offer our customers with the need for connectivity with a reliable internet solution,” PT&T president and chief executive officer James Velasquez said.

“Our partnership with Netlinkz allows us to provide high-speed internet access to areas where traditional broadband services are limited or unavailable,” he added.

“This collaboration aligns with our mission to provide innovative and secure network solutions. We are excited to contribute to the digital transformation of the country, empowering Filipinos with advanced internet capabilities,” Netlinkz managing director and chief executive officer James Tsiolis said.

PT&T currently has a network reach of 26,461 fiber kilometers in high-growth areas, covering nearly 40% of the country’s population.

SpaceX first made Starlink services available in the Philippines in February with Henry Sy Jr.'s data company, Data Lake,  as the first integrator in the country.

An order form on the Starlink website earlier indicated that the subscriptions to the LEO internet service will be charged a one-time fee of P29,320 for the hardware, and P2,700 per month for the service. —VAL, GMA Integrated News