Aklan Province eyes usage of Starlink as Internet source for seamless transactions

(caption: Jana Ang of Data Lake shows their SpaceX Technology during the ASEAN Meeting in Boracay.)

BORACAY Island, Aklan- The Aklan provincial government is reportedly eyeing to use Starlink Technology owned by world billionaire Elon Musk as a source of seamless internet connectivity in the province.

The Aklan provincial government last year launched its Digital Aklan dream, hoping to digitize major government transactions by 2024.

In an interview, Department of Information, Communications and Technology (DOCT) Undersecretary Jocelle Batapa-Sigue said she met with Aklan Governor Jose Enrique Mirafloreis as part of the preparations for the ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting in Boracay. The said meeting was held February 6-10, 2024 at the Shangri-la Resort.

“If it will pushed through,the Aklan province may be the pioneering local government unit in the country to avail of the Starlink technology.

In a separate interview, Jana Ang, head of sales and marketing of Data Lake, the distributor of Starlink in the Philippines, confirmed that they had already presented their proposals to the Aklan provincial government.

Earlier reports indicate that the entry of Starlink to the Philippines within the first three months of 2023. Already, the use of Starlink has been presented in Boracay during the ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting.

In July 2022, it was revealed that Starlink Internet Services Philippines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, would launch its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet services in the Philippines by December 2022.

In Aklan province, those to be digitized were procurement, dispensing of funds, and local taxation, among others. The League of Mayors in Aklan, who were present during the launching held at the Seawind Resort in August 2022, also expressed support for the program on digitization.