ORLANDO, Florida, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Satellite imagery

firm Planet Labs said on Wednesday it signed a $230

million agreement to build satellites for an unnamed customer in

the Asia-Pacific region, clinching its biggest contract yet as

the company expands beyond data services.

The deal, to be paid over seven years and with the

satellites poised for delivery in 2026, underscores Planet's

foray into the dedicated satellite services market after years

of primarily offering customers imagery and other data collected

by its own fleet of roughly 200 satellites.

Planet did not name the customer - only saying it is a

"long-standing, Asia-Pacific commercial partner" - or say how

many satellites were part of the deal.

The company's move to build customer satellites, Planet CEO

Will Marshall told Reuters, underscores growing demand from

foreign governments to have more control over and greater access

to satellite data that has played increasingly vital roles in

security and intelligence operations.

"We've resisted that a little bit because we wanted to build

up this data business," Marshall said of getting into the

business of selling satellites.

"We've seen these geopolitical changes, a lot of countries

are pushing more for dedicated capabilities," Marshall said.

"It's a strong market demand that we're seeing."

The satellites under the deal will be Planet's

high-resolution Pelicans, which will be operated by Planet, with

the customer having priority on when and where to point the

satellites as they orbit over the customer's area of interest in

Asia.

Planet will retain the ability to sell data collected by

those satellites to its other data customers, Marshall said.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Muralikumar

Anantharaman)