KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Starlink started offering its satellite broadband service in Malaysia shortly after it was granted the Network Facility and Service Provider (NFP) licence by the Malaysian Communication of Multimedia Commission (MCMC). The licence was issued just days after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had a video call with Elon Musk and the government had placed an order for 40 Starlink satellite broadband kits.

As confirmed by the MCMC earlier, Starlink has been given the green light to operate as a 100 per cent foreign-owned entity. The government waived the 49 per cent threshold for foreign equity imposed on NFP(I) and NSP(I) licence holders based on the assessment made on the value and benefits to be provided by Starlink Malaysia.

Given the speedy approval process, we have contacted MCMC to find out if there was any prior testing conducted to ensure Starlink’s operations do not cause any interference to existing telecommunications services in Malaysia. There have been reported cases of interference in other countries such as Starlink’s usage of the 12GHz band causing issues to existing satellite operators. Typically, telecommunications regulators would have to conduct extensive trials and public consultations for any new technology including 5G before it is being implemented.

According to the MCMC, there’s no co-existence study carried out so far by the MCMC or the industry. They added that the Starlink user terminal will be operating under the Class Assignment (CA) on a non-interference and non-protection basis.

Under MCMC’s definition, CA confers rights on any person to use the frequency for a list of devices and no fees shall be payable for the class assignment. Other examples of CA include walkie-talkie, wireless LAN and Bluetooth, Mobile wireless charger and remote control.

When we asked if Starlink’s operations may pose any interference to existing service, MCMC shared that the satellite service is operating in accordance with the provisions and conditions provided in the ITU Radio Regulations on the use of spectrum in an orderly and efficient manner. This includes compliance with Articles 21 and 22 of the ITU Radio Regulations, to ensure protection to terrestrial networks and GSO systems, respectively, against potential harmful interference.

The regulator has also shared the spectrum usage by Starlink for its User Terminal Earth Station and the Gateway Earth Station which are as follows:

User Terminal Earth Station (Ku-Band)

The use of the user terminal is by way of CA and is subject to requirements and conditions as stipulated in the 8th schedule of CA No. 1 of 2023.

• Downlink: 10.7 GHz to 12.7 GHz
• Uplink: 14.4 GHz to 14.5GHz

Gateway Earth Station (Ka-Band)

The use of Gateway Earth Station is by way of Apparatus Assignment (AA) and subject to the requirements, procedures and conditions of AA.

• Downlink: 17.8 GHz – 19.3 GHz
• Uplink: 27.5 GHz – 30.0 GHz

When we asked if Starlink is required to have local ground stations where traffic is rerouted domestically, MCMC said Starlink currently has ground stations in Malaysia.

Besides the 40 Starlink kits ordered by the government, Malaysian consumers are also able to order their own Starlink broadband kit for personal use. Launched on 25th July 2023, users can subscribe to Starlink for RM220/month and the hardware itself costs RM2,300 for the Standard Kit and RM11,613 for the High Performance version. According to Starlink Malaysia’s website, the service provides download speeds of around 100Mbps and it is also subject to their own Fair Usage Policy. The hardware will take 1-2 weeks to ship and there’s an applicable RM100 shipping fee.

Recently, it was reported that a teacher in Sarawak had ordered a Starlink kit but he had faced difficulty in getting it to work. Eventually, the problem was resolved after MCMC provided assistance. The regular told us that the issue was due to the wrong set of kit being delivered to the teacher as the serial number was not configured to his account. The issue was solved after they got in touch with the teacher and handed over the information to Starlink Internet Services Malaysia for rectification. — SoyaCincau