JAKARTA, June 19 (Reuters) - Indonesia and Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX on Monday launched the country's largest telecommunication satellite from the United States, in a $540 million project intended to link up remote corners of the archipelago to the internet.
Roughly two-thirds of Indonesia's 280 million population already use the internet, but connectivity is limited in far-flung, underdeveloped eastern islands of the Southeast Asian country.
The satellite will occupy the orbital slot above Indonesia's eastern Papua region.
It has a throughput capacity of 150 gigabytes per second and will provide internet access to 50,000 public service points, the Indonesian government said.
The project is a public-private partnership between the government and Indonesian satellite service provider PT Satelit Nusantara Tiga.
Persons:
Elon, Dewi Kurniawati, Gayatri Suroyo, Kanupriya Kapoor
Organizations:
Elon Musk's, SpaceX, Monday, Thales Alenia Space, PT Satelit Nusantara Tiga, Thomson
Locations:
JAKARTA, Indonesia, United States, Indonesian, Republic of Indonesia, Florida, Papua