BARCELONA, Feb 28 — The Ministry of Communications has proposed to SpaceX’s satellite internet service, Starlink, to open its office in Malaysia to facilitate transactions for those seeking their services within the country.

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the matter was conveyed during a meeting with Starlink Global Licensing and Market Activation director Rebecca Hunter at the Malaysia Pavilion at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024 (MWC2024).

"There are also more interesting aspects that are now being discussed in many of my visits to the booths here... many are talking about ‘direct-to-cell’, from satellite to mobile phones.

"So these are among the things we discussed with Starlink, whether it is willing to engage with telecommunications companies in Malaysia to provide direct-to-cell services,” he told Bernama and RTM here.

He said this when met before departing for Oslo, Norway, to lead the Malaysian delegation attending the "Next Generation Communications Roundtable” session organized by Norwegian telecommunications company, Telenor.

MWC2024, which began last Monday, witnessed the signing of 24 MoUs involving telecommunications companies and agencies in Malaysia, besides the country being given the best global 5G consistency score by Ookla, a global leader in network performance and internet metrics monitoring.

The congress is the largest annual gathering of the telecommunications industry organised by the international body Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), with Barcelona chosen to host the congress that brings together over 100,000 telecommunications industry players. — Bernama