DENPASAR, Indonesia, May 19, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Tech billionaire Elon Musk
landed Sunday on Indonesia's resort island of Bali where he aims to launch
his Starlink service to extend internet to remote areas of the country.

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, is scheduled to
launch Starlink alongside President Joko Widodo at a clinic in Bali's capital
Denpasar on Sunday afternoon.

Maritime and Investment Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said
Starlink "has the capability to reach even the most remote areas of
Indonesia."

"I had the opportunity to pick up Elon at the airport this morning and then
discuss some of his agenda items while he's here," the minister wrote on his
official Instagram account.

"One of the key topics was the launch of the Starlink internet service."

According to Luhut, Musk will also speak at the World Water Forum, which is
currently being held on the holiday island.

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.

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.

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.

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