ORLANDO, Florida (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)