Starlink is finally coming to India — but through an unexpected route.
Airtel has partnered with Starlink to bring its internet services to Indian customers. “(The partnership) enables Airtel and SpaceX to further explore how Starlink can complement and expand Airtel’s offerings, and how Airtel’s expertise in the Indian market complements SpaceX’s direct offerings to consumers and businesses,” Airtel said in a statement. The agreement is subject to SpaceX receiving its own authorizations to sell Starlink in India.
“Airtel and SpaceX will explore offering Starlink equipment in Airtel’s retail stores, Starlink services via Airtel to business customers, opportunities to connect communities, schools, and health centers, among many others, in even the most rural parts of India. Airtel and SpaceX will also explore how Starlink could help expand and enhance the Airtel network, as well as SpaceX’s ability to utilize and benefit from Airtel’s ground network infrastructure and other capabilities in India,” Airtel said.
It’s an interesting agreement. Airtel already has a satellite partnership agreement with Eutelsat OneWeb, but is bringing on Starlink as yet another satellite internet provider. SpaceX, though, has been struggling to get its satellite services launched in India. It had opened pre-orders to Starlink all the way back in 2021. But just a month later, India’s Broadband forum had written to TRAI, seeking to block its launch. The forum had claimed that Starlink did not have its ground or earth stations in India nor satellite frequency authorisation from ISRO and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) required to offer beta services in the country, and wasn’t compliant with the country’s satellite telecommunication laws. Starlink’s launch had been further delayed over acquiring satellite spectrum — SpaceX wanted satellite spectrum to be allocated, while Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance had been actively asking for the spectrum to be auctioned instead of being simply allocated by the government. Reliance had contended that satellite spectrum be auctioned in order to maintain parity with phone internet services, given how Jio had paid large sums of money to acquire 4G and 5G spectrum.
But India’s telecom bill had paved the way for allocation of spectrum, in line with global precedents. This had been seen as a win for SpaceX and Airtel, both of which had been in favour of allocation of spectrum. It now turns out that the two companies have joined forces to launch in India, and could jointly take on Reliance’s Jio.
These moves come months after Elon Musk had helped US President Donald Trump to return to the White House, and become a close part of his administration. Musk had also met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent US visit. Weeks later, Tesla had begun the process to set up showrooms in India, and SpaceX has now partnered with Airtel to launch satellite internet services in the country. Musk had been finding it hard to launch his products in the world’s most populous nation, but his increasing clout within the US administration seems to have finally paved the way for his India entry.