APRICOT 2026 Starlink can sometimes shift data more quickly than is possible on terrestrial networks, and improves connectivity in remote areas. But the space broadband service also presents new technical and regulatory challenges, according to speakers who took to the stage on Tuesday at the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT) in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The first discussion of Starlink at the event came from Karina Stefanovic, a wireless access network optimization engineer with Telekom Srbija, who used a conference session dedicated to network management explains she used the RIPE Atlas internet measurement network to compare data transmission speeds between Europe and Asia using Starlink and connections that started with 4G/5G networks.
Stefanovic found that Starlink carried data more quickly than connections that started on European cellular networks, despite the space broadband service often requiring more network hops and not using Tier 1 networks. She hypothesized that Starlink’s performance can be attributed to the satellite-to-satellite laser connections SpaceX employs, which route traffic across the satellite network so it can reach the most appropriate terrestrial egress point. That laser network, she suggested, should perhaps be considered a new routing layer for the internet.
In a later conference panel dedicated to the operational, policy, and resilience implications of internet access services delivered from low-Earth orbit, APNIC chief scientist Geoff Huston pointed out that Starlink can’t always land traffic in countries where its service is available. He said the countries surrounding Mongolia – China and Russia – are hostile to Starlink, so the space ISP lands traffic for Mongolian users in Japan then uses terrestrial links to reach the central Asian country.
Huston thinks that creates another issue, as Mongolian Starlink users therefore become reliant on Japanese regulators. He also asked conference attendees to consider that commercial aircraft are subject to the laws of whichever nation it touches down in, until its wheels leave the ground and the plane enters the jurisdiction of an airline’s home country. A Starlink user aboard the flight can therefore change jurisdiction during flight. Meanwhile, no nation has jurisdiction in space, where Starlink’s satellites circle.
Huston thinks regulators are aware that Starlink poses unusual legal challenges – and perhaps even a challenge to sovereignty – but that governments are mostly happy to ignore those issues because the service conveniently solves the problem of delivering broadband services to remote areas, an expensive job few nations have nailed.
Also on the panel, Doctor Ir. Ismail, the secretary general of Indonesia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs, confirmed the lure of space broadband for the nation, which spans 17,000 islands.
“The investment case is quite bleak for rural areas,” he said. Starlink offers a tantalizing alternative, and Dr. Ismail said SpaceX engaged sincerely with Indonesia’s government to address concerns about space broadband services allowing locals to circumvent regulations that prohibit online gambling, explicit material, and content felt to promote terrorism.
He said Starlink built a local network operation center and agreed to comply with Indonesian laws.
Job done? Not quite. Karina Stefanovic said her research showed she can see 13 Starlink satellites available from Serbia, population 6.5 million, but just four in Jakarta to serve a city of over 40 million souls.
And Huston pointed out that Starlink reconnect users to a different satellite every 15 seconds, nearly always drops packets during that process, and that IP routing looks for alternative routes when networks don’t offer clean paths. “You need a protocol that can adapt to Starlink,” he suggested. ®
Source: The register