The Tesla and SpaceX founder and billionaire Elon Musk's satellite internet service 'Starlink' is moving forward to start broadband services in India from December 2022 with complete government approval, a senior company representative clarified recently.Sanjay Bhargava who joined SpaceX as Starlink’s country director in India on October 1, 2021 stated in LinkedIn that the pre-orders from India have crossed 5,000 and the company is willing to work with rural constituencies for providing broadband services.
picture credits : google
Sanjay Bhargava is well known as the founder of electronic payment firm, PayPal, which will now head Starlink satellite broadband venture in India.The Musk-led US aerospace company,SpaceX gears up to compete with Bharti group-backed OneWeb and others and launch fast satellite broadband services in India next year.Sanjay Bhargava stated that the maximum target of this initiative is to have 2,00,000 terminals active in India in December 2022.And that the Starlink is charging a deposit of $99 (around ₹ 7,350) per user, he also says that the speed currently varies between 50 and 150 megabit per second (mbps) in beta stage.
Industry experts see India as a key emerging satellite internet market with an almost $1 billion annual revenue opportunity. This, since almost 75% of rural India does not have access to broadband as many locations are still without cellular or fibre connectivity. Accordingly, LEO satellite systems are being seen as a viable alternative, though it is costly at present.
Back in July 2021, a top SpaceX executive at a meeting with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had said that Musk's company desired to partner with Indian companies to locally manufacture satellite communications equipment including antenna systems and user terminal devices. He had added that SpaceX always looked forward to opportunities to maximize the efficiency of its global supply chain and is keen to work with its partners in India to recognize those opportunities and spread strong trade links in India.
0 Comments