SkyCommons Observatory

Digital inclusion and disaster resilience. Starlink is the only LEO provider in Fiji—a country of 332 islands with sparse internet access. Telemedicine and online schooling has reached some outer island communities, but Starlink's subscriptions are unaffordable for most individual households.

Investigated for unfair competition. Indonesia has 17,508 islands and 72 million people offline. Starlink is the only LEO provider authorized for retail service. Parliament has called it a functional monopoly. The national competition authority has opened an investigation. Neither has produced enforceable action.

Some connectivity gaps are being closed. Starlink is the dominant provider, shaped by executive lobbying and direct deals. Lack of accountability is a civil society concern, as is what data is collected about the Amazon region and beyond.

Limited consumer choice. <b>Chinese service providers are entering the market</b>, but Starlink holds the consumer space for now. Its equity waiver was quietly approved, and licence terms remain unpublished. An infrastructure contest between the US and China is playing out in real time.

An infrastructure shortcut. Starlink remains the only LEO provider operating at consumer scale, with the ability to reach areas that terrestrial networks cannot.

Wartime dependency on a single provider. Starlink was deployed within days of an invasion by Russia in 2022. Now, LEO satellites serve as the national connectivity backbone for military use—as well as for schools, hospitals, and homes.