Starlink in India: Elon Musk’s satellite internet poised to bridge rural connectivity gap

The approval by the Indian government for Elon Musk's Starlink services to operate in India is a game-changing move that bodes to revolutionise the nation's internet infrastructure. Though it is yet to obtain the mandatory clearance from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (In-Space), this seems to be a certainty, and the arrival of Starlink, the satellite broadband initiative from SpaceX, which is already available in 100 countries, appears to be a fait accompli.

It is an open secret that Musk had been trying for quite a few years to secure access to the Indian market, even broaching the matter to India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the latter's official visit to Washington. Simultaneously, SpaceX had been assiduously overcoming the roadblocks that had initially hampered acquiring permission, the most important of these being the concern that the entry of this giant would negatively impact domestic players.

The company had erased such concerns by entering into partnerships with two of India's largest telecom players, Reliance Jio, led by Mukesh Ambani, and Bharti Airtel, to support its local rollout.

Another hurdle had been that, just prior to giving permission, the government had imposed more stringent security norms for companies offering satellite internet services, including compulsory data localisation, lawful interception, gateway security clearance, and local manufacturing, conditions that Starlink accepted, thereby erasing the security concerns the entry of a foreign company raises.

Appropriate pricing had been yet another obstacle, given that in India all companies, and not merely internet servers, tend to keep costs low as opposed to those of developed nations, by taking advantage of the numerical vastness of consumers being served. This constraint, too, would be overcome by Starlink through offering its services at just $10 a month, which translates to roughly Rs 850, positioning it as a budget-friendly satellite internet offering.

Such a pricing strategy is in tune with the Indian market, where affordability and high performance are often key to attracting consumers. Competitively priced packages offering unlimited data are the mantra, which is likely to accelerate Starlink's growth in India, and its stated aim of attracting 10 million users does not seem to be unrealistic.

The biggest advantage that Starlink has over its Indian counterparts is that it uses a network of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, currently numbering around 7,000, to pro-vide high-speed internet even in hard-to-reach locations, with its LEO constellation set to eventually surpass 40,000 satellites.

As things stand now, the paucity of network accessibility is the major handicap suffered by the nation's remoter areas, but the advent of the game-changer Starlink is set to alter such a situation. By transmitting data directly between satellites and ground stations, it will overcome many of the limitations that plague traditional broad-band networks, thereby proving to be a boon to our rural and remote communities