Tired Of Internet Outages, Pakistani Province Mulls Talks With Elon Musk's Starlink: Report

With several regions of Pakistan struggle with slow internet and frequent internet outages, the provincial government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is mulling talks with billionaire entrepreneur and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for providing net through his satellite internet service Starlink, reported Geo News.

The news outlet quoted Shafaqat Ayaz, Special Assistant to KP Chief Minister, who said that aside from Starlink, the government was also examining other options.

"There is an internet issue in KP, but the reasons behind it remain unclear," Ayaz stated.

For months, Pakistani citizens have been experiencing severe problems with the internet. Although officials claim that disruptions are due fault in submarine cables, it is suspected that the country's government is trying out a 'firewall' because of which the internet speeds have drastically reduced.

Elon Musk recently confirmed that Starlink was awaiting approval from Pakistani government.

"We are waiting for approval from the government," he said earlier on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

As reported by Pakistani media, the country's Minister of State for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja has already confirmed that the government was in talks with Musk to introduce Starlink internet in the country. Khawaja said this during a Senate Standing Committee meeting on IT and Telecommunication.