Elon Musk has accepted an invitation from President Ranil Wickremesinghe to visit Sri Lanka this year to launch his Starlink satellite internet service, the Daily Mirror reports.
President Wickremesinghe, accompanied by his climate affairs advisor Ruwan Wijewardene, met with Musk in Bali, Indonesia, to discuss various topics including renewable energy, artificial intelligence (AI), and global politics.
The exact dates for Musk’s visit to Sri Lanka have yet to be determined. The Sri Lankan government will coordinate with Musk’s team to finalize the arrangements.
“It all depends on how quickly Sri Lanka expedites the approval process. Once that is done, Elon will arrive in Sri Lanka to launch Starlink. Tentatively, it was discussed that he will visit at the end of the year,” a source said.
Elon Musk, the billionaire head of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of social platform X, arrived in Bali to launch the Starlink satellite internet service. He has already submitted an application to launch Starlink in Sri Lanka, and President Wickremesinghe agreed to expedite the process, noting that such a service could significantly benefit rural education in the country.
During his current visit to Indonesia, an archipelago nation of 17,000 islands across three time zones, Musk will launch the Starlink internet service.
Starlink’s Internet Constellation represents a major breakthrough in commercial satellite technology, offering near broadband-capable speeds and performance using a network of small satellites that orbit the Earth at much lower altitudes than traditional satellites.
Source – dailymirror.lk