Intelsat received approval from the Philippines government to provide service providers with satellite-based broadband and backhaul services, making it the first overseas company to secure a licence.

The company received a satellite service providers and operators licence from the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

In a statement, Intelsat noted the move would aid its partners in expanding cellular networks beyond existing terrestrial limits, delivering “4G anywhere in the country”.

The US-based company is targeting customers across the mobile network operator, enterprise and ISP segments, providing redundancy and resiliency to microwave and fibre networks and offering service-level guarantees.

Intelsat said it operates one of the world’s largest integrated satellite and terrestrial networks.

The country’s third-largest mobile operator Now Telecom’s last year signed an MoU with OneWeb with a view to delivering satellite-based mobile broadband services to the enterprise sector.

Starlink is working with the Philippines government to launch a nationwide broadband service, while Smart Communications has deals with US-based Omnispace and AST SpaceMobile to explore delivering connectivity from space.