Elon Musk ‘waiting for approval from the government’ to launch Starlink in Pakistan

Tech billionaire Elon Musk confirmed on Saturday that Starlink applied to launch internet services in Pakistan but was “waiting for approval from the government.”

Musk responded to a post on X by a Pakistani user, who said Starlink internet services could “leap” Pakistan “into the future, where every citizen has the chance to connect and grow”.

“Please, let Starlink be our bridge to tomorrow,” the user urged the billionaire, who owns X and the electric vehicle company Tesla.

Later, in a second post tagging Musk, the user claimed Pakistan had “approved Starlink!”

“Now is the perfect time to bring your transformative internet service to our nation. Millions await the connectivity, education, and opportunities Starlink could offer. Please, expedite Starlink’s launch in Pakistan,” the user said.

Musk’s confirmation of his intention to launch Starlink in Pakistan comes at a time when the nation topped the list of countries that suffered the most due to internet outages in 2024.

According to Top10VPN.com, an independent VPN reviewer, the global internet disruption lasted 88,788 hours last year which caused a financial loss of $7.69 billion.

It said Pakistan was the single most affected nation with $1.62bn in losses, followed by Myanmar ($1.58bn) and Sudan ($1.12bn).