Can Starlink’s entry be another turning point 
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Two of the greatest minds in Bangladesh -- Dr Muhammad Yunus and Iqbal Quadir -- came together for an unconventional idea: providing mobile phones, then exorbitantly priced status symbols for the urban elite, to poor rural women in the mid-90s.What they envisioned was made possible by the entry of a Norwegian telecommunications company onto the shores of the Bay of Bengal and their idea turned out to be a game-changer.Telenor's arrival through Grameenphone was not just a means of poverty alleviation for many women, it was a pivotal moment that transformed the country's telecommunications landscape.Its entry, along with the efforts of other mobile operators, democratised mobile connectivity, expanded rural access and played a crucial role in bolstering economic growth.Today, a similar disruption could be on the horizon with Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite-based internet service.
With Chief Adviser Professor Yunus recently engaging in talks with Elon Musk, followed by his post on X and Musk's "looking forward to it" response, and the telecom regulator's draft guidelines for NGSO satellites being released, Starlink's entry seems on the horizon.
The pressing question now is whether its arrival will be as transformative as Telenor's. And while the answer remains uncertain, one thing is clear: it undoubtedly poses itself as a potential watershed moment.
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