Musk’s Starlink satellite internet to enter the Indian market

The Takeaways:

• SpaceX’s Deals: SpaceX signed agreements with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel to provide Starlink satellite internet in India.
• Awaiting Approval: SpaceX is waiting for the Indian government’s approval to operate.
• Last Mile Connectivity: Satellite internet can provide connectivity in rural areas without the need for infrastructure like wires and towers.
• Meeting with Modi: The deal followed Musk’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where they discussed various topics.
• Cost Concerns: The high cost of satellite internet compared to India’s cheap broadband could be a challenge.

The Details:

In a sudden move, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has signed deals with two of India’s largest telecom providers, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, to provide Starlink satellite internet service to Indian consumers, according to a report by BBC News. SpaceX now awaits approval from the government of India to operate within the country.

The deal came as a surprise because until recently, Musk had been locked in an acrimonious regulatory battle with the Indian telecom giants.

Satellite internet has the potential to provide “last mile connectivity,” telecom expert Sandeep Budki told Indian news channel NDTV. Internet service provided by satellites can be available anywhere there is open land, without the need for wires and towers. This has the potential to bring internet coverage to India’s rural areas, which remain largely underserved.

Both Airtel and Jio announced their separate deals with SpaceX on Tuesday. Both plan to provide Starlink service to consumers via their own brands. Airtel emphasized the potential to reach rural areas, while Jio announced their intention to sell Starlink equipment through its retail stores.

Starlink’s internet service is available in over 100 countries via its over 7,000 satellites already in orbit.

After SpaceX first opened their Indian subsidiary in 2021, with big plans to enter the market, they were stuck in regulatory limbo.

Since last year, the big telecom firms tussled over the allocation of satellite broadband spectrum. Global firms like SpaceX and Amazon’s Project Kuiper pushed for India’s telecom regulator to allocate spectrum administratively, while Indian firms like Reliance and Airtel lobbied for auctioning bands of the spectrum instead, according to a report by Business Today.

In Musk’s characteristic style, he went public with the dispute over X, as he repeatedly tweeted about the regulatory battle being played out in the background. At one point, the dispute became personal, with Musk highlighting a meme showing Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries and one of the world’s richest men, as frightened.

Shortly thereafter, on October 15 last year, the government of India settled the matter in favor of SpaceX and Amazon by choosing administrative allocation of bandwidth, according to a Reuters report.

The deal signed by SpaceX and the Indian telecom giants on Tuesday comes on the heels of Musk’s in-person meeting with India’s prime minister Narendra Modi last month, during Modi’s visit to the United States. During the meeting, they discussed “space, mobility, technology and innovation,” according to a statement put out by Modi on X.

The unusual one-on-one meeting of a foreign leader with a business leader with no official role in government is seen as a testament to the elevated position Trump has accorded to Musk, after Musk became one of Trump’s largest donors during the 2024 election cycle, and Trump appointed him as the head of a department of government efficiency to spearhead an effort to cut costs.

The satellite internet market in India has enormous potential given India’s large unconnected rural population, says a 2023 report released by management consulting firm EY-Parthenon.

However, the report also notes that cost will be a sticking point, given that satellite internet in the US costs ten times the cost of broadband in India, which is currently the cheapest in the world.