Astranis to build a dedicated satellite for the Philippines. Photo: Astranis

Astranis will build a satellite dedicated to broadband in the Philippines under a new deal announced Tuesday with satellite service provider Orbits Corp and the government of the Philippines. This will be Astranis’s first satellite program outside of the Americas. 

The Astranis business model is to sell MicroGEO, or smaller satellites in Geostationary Orbit (GEO), to regional service providers or partners so customers can have dedicated broadband over a set area. 

Orbits Corp the Philippines is a natural fit for a MicroGEO satellite, as the archipelago nation is made up of more than 7,000 islands and many are sparsely populated. Just 11,000 of the country’s 42,000 local communities are covered by fiber today.

“Most of the internet penetration in the Philippines is confined to the metropolitan areas,” said Atty Augusto Baculio, a former legislator and leader of Orbits Corp. “Outside of that, going to the inner villages, over mountains, across islands — that’s when you have intermittent access to connectivity, or none at all. Getting these people connected is critically important, and that’s why we’re excited to partner with Astranis on this important project to bring a dedicated satellite to the Philippines.”

Astranis said this satellite will connect up to 2 million people across 5,000 remote and rural communities in the Philippines. It is set to launch in 2024 alongside four additional Astranis satellites.