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Elon Musk’s Starlink, a game-changer for internet users in the most populous nation in the world, is expected to be the next big thing in India’s telecom and internet industry. In addition to the national carrier BSNL, Elon Musk will be competing with industry titans like Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel and Mukesh Ambani’s Jio to offer Indian consumers ultra-high speed connectivity.
Whether or not he will be able to match Jio and Airtel on pricing is yet to be seen. India currently has the world’s lowest pricing in terms of broadband and WiFi internet. The richest person in the world right now, Elon Musk, might want to get into the most competitive internet data market in the world.
According to the telecom minister today, Starlink, which uses satellite constellations in near-Earth orbit to provide wireless internet service, is currently pursuing the necessary security clearances for a licence to provide satellite broadband services in India. Should it meet the requirements outlined, it should receive a permit.
Following New Delhi’s announcement last month that it would award satellite broadband spectrum administratively rather than through an auction, as Elon Musk had requested, Starlink’s long-term plans to enter India received a significant boost. Mukesh Ambani, a rival Indian telecom billionaire, had requested an auction.
In order to receive the required security clearance, Starlink must convince the Indian government that all of its data is processed and stored locally in India and that its satellite signals are encrypted and completely secure. This was confirmed today by Jyotiraditya Scindia, the country’s telecom minister.
“You receive the licence once all the requirements are met. We will be overjoyed if they (Starlink) do that,” Mr. Scindia stated.
Ambani Mukesh’s Dependency With over 14 million wired users, Jio presently controls the majority of the Indian broadband market. Nearly 500 million people use Jio’s mobile internet service. Nearly 300 million people use Airtel’s broadband service. They are worried that, as satellite technology develops, they could lose clients to Elon Musk’s Starlink, despite having already spent over $20 billion on spectrum auctions.
As per a Reuters report, Reliance Jio already has the necessary clearances to launch its own satellite broadband service but hasn’t done so yet. Starlink has now notified the Indian government that it is prepared to abide by the laws and guidelines pertaining to servers, data storage, and security in India.
When Reliance Jio had first launched services, Mukesh Ambani, then Asia’s richest person, had offered broadband services for free to all subscribers to capture a majority market share. The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, is now following suit by charging as little as $10 (about Rs 800) a month for Starlink services in Africa. According to Musk, the same Starlink service can cost up to $120 (roughly Rs 10,000) per month in the US.