Angkasa-X

The UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) recently studied the digital divide experienced among the 4.3 billion people living across the Asia-Pacific region. The findings reported that the wedge between them is widening, with over half the population being denied access to a decent internet connection.

This socio-economic divide can be found primarily in the rural and remote areas of a country due to the lack of adequate infrastructure and investment, which often pave the way for societal inequalities.

In order to combat such negative side-effects and empower rural areas with the power of 21st-century internet capabilities, ANGKASA-X, a technology company based out of Malaysia, provides the most robust internet connectivity solutions for all, keeping in mind a highly sustainable future. ANGKASA-X is on a mission to boost the socio-economic condition of millions through its innovative Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellites to deliver satellite-based internet services. The company collaborates and engages with various organizations to materialize its holistic mission via extensive research and development, intellectual property (IP) creation, components sourcing and testing, and assembly. All these steps lead up to a revolutionary change in the telecommunications as well as the fast-growing space economy marketplaces.

More specifically, according to the Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), a sub-economic development council set-up by the four countries above with the objective of providing attention and assistance to areas in the region that needs a helping hand to spur up economic growth. LEO satellites can help their people in any vicinity to enjoy the privileges of seamless accessibility to high-speed internet connections. The use of such a technology is also expected to prove more cost-effective and set up networks much more expeditiously than previously anticipated. And ANGKASA-X is at the frontlines with this technology.

ANGKASA-X is very hopeful about launching its first test satellite by the year 2022 to help connect the island of Borneo to the vast, virtual world of the internet with the payload of remote sensing (EO) and Automatic Identification System (AIS). By 2030, the SpaceTech unicorn intends to have launched 500 LEO broadband communication satellites. Focusing on matters at hand, ANGKASA-X is working with HallBru Tech and has won the confidence of the Brunei Darussalam BIMP-EAGA Business Council (BEBC).

With one of the oldest recorded rainforest ecosystems to exist today, Borneo has several remotely located districts that have proven difficult to reach and establish viable internet connections.

BIMP-EAGA is currently leveraging LEO satellites to overcome this challenge in other remote areas in the region but faced difficulties effectuating the same in Borneo, where setting up a terrestrial broadband infrastructure is out of the question.

Following Dr. Sean Seah and Dr. William Lim, founders of ANGKASA-X, strongly believes LEO technologies are the solution to the Southeast Asian connectivity issues. ANGKASA-X looks forward to working with the most cutting-edge telecommunication solution providers with Satellite-as-a-Service(SaaS). Soon after, these telcos can offer satellite internet services to all in the region. ANGKASA-X’s low earth orbit A-SEAN-AIS and A-SEANLINK satellites constellations will pave the way and deliver a Satellite Connected Borneo Island. This is one among a slew of milestones achieved by the company in favor of advancing space telecommunication innovation while taking a step toward promoting socio-economic growth in such rural regions.

The ANGKASA-X team extends a dedicated satellite infrastructure through various Satellite-as-a-Service (SaaS) models for the telcos, additionally assisting them in catering to the needs of the end consumers’ internet needs in the APAC region.

How do telecom enterprises profit from such a venture?

The minimalized need to gather resources to architect a brand new and heavy infrastructure serves as one of many reasons. Low maintenance costs compared to traditional terrestrial fiber networks follow as another. They can then confidently proffer low-latency, high bandwidth internet services all in an extremely cost-effective and efficient manner.

ANGKASA-X’s collaboration with Hallbru Tech alongside the BEBC has truly paved the way for the company’s engagement with several rural communities and other remote areas of the BIMP-EAGA region. The ANGKASA-X satellite service team are thus extremely motivated to fulfill their mission. And this includes provisioning the governments and populace with more than simple internet connectivity. ANGKASA-X will offer services that include navigational and logistics tracking, EDGE data centers in rural areas, Internet-of-Things (IoT) services for rural agricultural development, satellite imagery for search and rescue including disaster recovery management and geographical and environmental monitoring, among a slew of other functionalities.

Furthermore, the company has collaborated with leading science university (Universiti Sains Malaysia) in providing professional satellite engineering courses that will equip aspiring individuals with the necessary knowledge of satellite engineering to upgrade their competencies and skills leading to talent development in space related. After all, the future of such projects depends on the capabilities of the next generations.