For thousands of people living in Papua New Guinea’s most remote communities, access to the outside world remains a long and difficult journey, often involving hours of walking just to send a message or call for help.

Pastor Matt Allen knows this reality all too well. Now a pastor at a Baptist Church in Port Moresby, Pastor Allen spent 11 years living and working in one of the country’s most isolated locations, Kotidanga village in Gulf Province, a four-day walk from Menyamya and three days from Kerema.

“There was zero internet access,” he said. “There still is none.”

During his time in Kotidanga, Pastor Allen served as a missionary and pilot, flying a Cessna 206 for medical evacuations and logistics across the region.

His mission station also operated a registered rural health centre, treating more than 11,000 patients annually.

“We treated everything from a runny nose to heart attacks,” he said. “But the most common medevac was always mothers in labour.”

He recalls days when he flew multiple emergency missions back-to-back, often transporting women who had already been in labour for more than 36 hours.

“By the time they reached us, the baby was usually gone. The flight was just to try and save the mother.”

Communication in Kotidanga relied largely on HF radio, which Pastor Allen describes as unreliable and limited to scheduled call times.

A satellite phone later provided minimal email access, but at extremely slow speeds and high cost.

“At best it was less than 10 kilobytes per second. It took two minutes just to receive one text-only email,” he said.

A brief attempt by Digicel to establish a mobile tower around 2012 ended within months due to land disputes.

“Even today, people still have to walk two to four hours up a mountain just to find a signal,” he said.

He said the people in Kotidanga started using Starlink around 18 months ago, testing the satellite internet service.

With speeds of around 200 megabits per second and low latency, he says Starlink far exceeds anything currently available in PNG.

“There’s nothing that touches those speeds here not even fibre optics.”

He describes the service as transformational for rural health, education and governance.

“A health extension officer in a remote clinic could do a live video call with a doctor instead of guessing treatment,” he said.

“Teachers wouldn’t have to travel to town just to check their pay. Schools could access free learning platforms like Khan Academy.”

When Starlink services were later switched off, he says communities were immediately cut off again.

“They’re back to darkness, hand-carrying letters or climbing mountains,” he said.

He points to a recent plane crash at Kanabea airstrip as an example, where it took someone walking over an hour to alert authorities because there was no communication.

“That happened just hours ago,” he said. “This is the reality.”

Pastor Allen says he believes government leaders must urgently reconsider digital access for rural PNG, where an estimated 87 percent of the population lives.

“People in the bush can no longer wait for fibre or mobile towers,” he said.

“It’s time to step out of the stone age and come into the modern age.”

While aware of ongoing regulatory and legal issues surrounding Starlink, he says his focus remains on the people affected.

“If it were allowed again, I’d get five of them,” he said.

For Pastor Allen, internet access is not about convenience, it is about dignity, safety and opportunity.

“It means connection. It means education. It means saving lives,” he said.

“It means coming into the modern age.”