The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, or IN-SPACe for short, granted Starlink the licence to commercially operate in India for the next five years, making it the third company after Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Reliance Jio to get the nod to bring satellite internet to the country. The approval permits Starlink to use its Gen1 satellite constellation in the country and is valid till July 7, 2030.
The regulatory approval does not mean that Starlink will soon start its commercial services in India. A report by Reuters suggests that Starlink still needs to establish ground infrastructure and secure the spectrum from the government. Moreover, the SpaceX-owned service needs to demonstrate through testing and trial that it meets the security rules set by IN-SPACe. This means we might see Starlink start offering its services in India either by the end of the year or sometime next year.
What makes Starlink better than broadband and other satellite services?
Unlike fibre optic-based broadband providers like Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Hathaway, ACT and others, Starlink uses a constellation of satellites to provide internet connectivity. This eliminates the need to set up ground-based infrastructure while also enabling internet access even in the most remote locations on the planet.
Also, compared to other satellite internet service providers, which often struggle with speed and latency, Starlink uses a constellation of thousands of satellites which can communicate with each other to deliver high-speed internet and reduce latency. Compared to satellites used by companies like Viasat, HughesNet and Amazon, which are pretty large, Starlink’s internet satellites are small and use lasers to transmit signals amongst one another.
If you want to learn more about how Starlink works and how to set it up, click here.
How much is Starlink expected to cost in India?
SpaceX has yet to officially reveal how much it will charge Starlink users in India, but if we take a look at the company’s global pricing, the standard hardware is expected to cost $349, which roughly translates to Rs 30,000.
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If you want to use Starlink’s satellite internet on the go, you might want to take a look at the mini kit, which costs $499 or approximately Rs 43,000. One thing to note is that Starlink’s internet speed depends entirely on your geographical location, which means you should expect speeds anywhere between 20 Mbps to 264 Mbps.
As for price, several reports have suggested that the promotional monthly subscription plans might start at $10, which amounts to about Rs 900 per month. If you are planning to make Starlink your primary internet service, speculations suggest that the unlimited data plan might be priced somewhere around Rs 3,000 per month.
Earlier this year, in May, Starlink started its services in the neighbouring country of Bangladesh, where the service comes with a one-time setup cost of approximately Rs 39,000 and monthly subscription plans starting from Rs 2,990.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also proposed an additional monthly charge of Rs 500 for Starlink users in urban areas, but it remains to be seen if that might be the case. These subscription costs may seem expensive, but if you are someone who is always on the go or lives in an area where internet connectivity is patchy, Starlink might emerge as a viable alternative.
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A few months ago, Reliance Jio announced it is tying up with Starlink to sell its equipment in India via physical retail stores, with the network operator responsible for Starlink installation and activation. Bharti Airtel has also tied up with the Elon Musk-owned company to bring satellite internet to the most remote parts of India.
However, Starlink isn’t the only company working on satellite connectivity. Last year, government-owned telecom operator BSNL announced that it is working on a new service called “Direct to Device”, which it claims “converges satellite and terrestrial mobile networks to deliver seamless, reliable connectivity.”
In a trial, BSNL used a commercial Android device with non-terrestrial network (NTN) connectivity to send a message to a Viasat satellite, which was roughly 36,000km away. For those wondering, the technology uses existing cellular networks and repurposes them to interact with satellite constellations like that of Starlink, which act as gigantic cell towers in the sky. This is helpful for people who live I places where network connectivity is low and can help cover the gap in rural areas.
