Elon Musk-led SpaceX’s satellite broadband service Starlink, is planning to collaborate with telecom companies to provide internet services to rural areas in India.
Starlink Country Director India at SpaceX Sanjay Bhargava had earlier announced that the company will focus on 10 rural Lok Sabha constituencies to provide internet services for 80 per cent of the Starlink terminals shipped to India.
Starlink claims to have received over 5,000 pre-orders from India. The company is charging a deposit of $99 or Rs 7,350 per customer and claims to deliver data speeds in the range of 50-150 megabits per second in the beta stage.
Bhargava told that discussions with broadband service providers will start once the 12 Phase-I aspirational districts are identified by the NITI Aayog and the company will see the interests of the various players and the USOF (Universal Service Obligation Fund).
In a social media post, Bhargava said the company wants to collaborate with all. “We want to collaborate with all and have others besides us licensed to provide satellite broadband so that satellite plus terrestrial together can provide 100 per cent broadband, especially in rural districts,” he said.
The subsidiary has a “stretch goal” to deploy 200,000 Starlink user terminals in more than 160,000 rural districts in India by December 2022.
