Heaptalk, Jakarta — Elon Musk’s SpaceX officially unveiled its satellite, Starlink. It was trialed at the Sumerta Kelod Community Health Center, Denpasar, Bali, and will be launched in the Bungbungan Klungkung Sub-Public Health Center in the Aru Islands as the second phase.
According to Bahlil Lahadalia, the Indonesian Minister of Investment and Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Starlink’s investment value in the archipelago reached US$1.8 million, approximately Rp30 billion, with a registered workforce of only three employees.
“Regarding Elon Musk’s Starlink, I do not handle it directly. My team also did not carry out technical discussions regarding this investment. However, according to Online Single Submission (OSS) data, Starlink’s investment value reached Rp30 billion.” Minister Bahlil said.
Nevertheless, the Public Policy Analyst of Trisakti University, Trubus Rahardiansah, considered Starlink’s capital to carry out business activities in providing closed VSAT telecommunications services (JARTUP VSAT) and Internet Service Provider (ISP) license is considered too small and unreasonable.
“Is that amount of capital sufficient to establish a JARTUP VSAT and ISP business? Moreover, the telecommunications industry possesses high capex and high expenditure. Does it make sense that only three employees are needed? I observe this is unlikely to happen,” Trubus said, as cited in Kompas.
Based on his perspective, President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo and the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, hope that Elon Musk’s business investment can significantly absorb Indonesian workers. However, Starlink only possesses three employees.
To serve all regions of Indonesia, he said that Starlink needs a minimum of 9 earth stations to be used as hubs. As is known, the investment value to build 1 earth station like BAKTI Kominfo’s SATRIA project is US$5 million, equivalent to Rp81 billion. Besides, he also delivered that Starlink needed over three NOCs to operate and serve Indonesia.
“I observed a maladministration allegation regarding issuing Starlink telecommunications operation permits. I hope the Ombudsman and law enforcement can further investigate the Ministry of Communication of Technology and Informatics license provision to Starlink. In my opinion, this is suspicious, and the process seems instantaneous.” Trubus said.
He also advised the next government to make clear regulations regarding Non-Geostatinary Orbit (NGSO), including the security of Indonesia’s digital territorial DNA, to avoid similar problems occurring in the future.
