Will Starlink Launch in India Along With Tesla on July 15?

It has now been confirmed that Tesla will open its first Experience Centre in Mumbai on July 15, formally kicking off its India operations after years of attempting to break into our market. Having previously targeted 2017 and then 2022 for a launch here, Tesla’s hopes had to be put on hold due to strict regulations and high import duties in India. It was only earlier this year that launch plans began to take firm shape. 

The news comes just as Starlink, another of Elon Musk’s ventures, has been approved by India’s top licensing authority. The satellite-based Internet service, which operates under Musk-owend SpaceX, has crossed the final hurdle in its government approval process. So will Musk himself, widely expected to come to India next week, launch Starlink at the same time as Tesla?

The Way Forward for Starlink

Although it would have been good timing, it is unlikely that Starlink will be able to offer satellite Internet connectivity anytime soon. The company received approval this week from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) to operate a Non-Indian geostationary orbit and/or non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation. It was also recently granted a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). However it still has to set up a significant amount of infrastructure in India, and more importantly, it has to acquire spectrum rights to use its constellation of satellites here.

IN-SPACe has allowed the provisioning of Starlink Gen1 Constellation capacity over India within specific frequency bands, for a period of five years ending in July 2030. Starlink will now have to apply for this spectrum, which will let it and security clearance 

The long journey to India

First launched in 2019 with just 60 satellites, Starlink now operates a constellation of over 7,800 satellites in orbit and is present in over 40 countries.   

Starlink had appointed a Country Director for India, Sanjay Bhargava, in October 2021, aiming to launch in early-to-mid 2022 and enroll 2,00,000 subscribers within the same year. It began accepting pre-orders for $99 (around ₹7,500 at the time) with the caveats that an exact launch timeline was unknown, and that service would be first-come, first-served to a limited number of people in each area where coverage would be available. 

The company had also stated that it would focus on connecting 10 rural talukas to demonstrate how it could quickly and easily bring high-speed Internet access to underserved areas. However, the Department of Telecom quickly shut down the preorder process and instructed Starlink to refund all customers, even issuing a public warning that regulatory approvals had been granted yet. Bhargava stepped down as a result, just four months after having been appointed, and the company has not made any public announcements about its launch plans for India since then. The approvals process has been a lot slower than the company might have ancitipated in 2021.

In 2023, Starlink was in the news in India again for lobbying the Government of India to assign spectrum licenses rather than holding an auction, as it does with cellular spectrum. This was opposed by Reliance Jio on the grounds that it would be unfair to established Indian telecom players. The Government ultimately decided to issue licences, as a more streamlined and practical approach; a change that went into effect when the Telecommunications Act 2023, was signed into law.

Challenges Ahead for Starlink in India

While Starlink might have the first-mover’s advantage in terms of offering satellite-based connectivity, Amazon’s Project Kupier has also applied for permission to launch in India. Reliance Jio announced plans to launch its own service called JioSpaceFiber using a European satellite constellation, and OneWeb, backed by Bharti Enterprises, will also jump into the fray with 36 satellites of its own, launched by ISRO. 

The big questions now are how much all of this will cost, and who is the target audience? Subscriptions for satellite Internet services will likely be quite expensive. Starlink plans for home users in the US start at $80 (approximately ₹6,860 before taxes) per month, and the upfront cost for the satellite receiver is $350 (approximately ₹30,000) while rooftop installation is an additional $180 (approximately ₹15,500) not including extra mounts and extenders if needed.

While rumours suggest service prices will be significantly lower in India, Starlink will still cost a lot more than 5G cellular or fixed wired Internet access, and the company will have to demonstrate significant value to end users, including business clients. Jio and Airtel’s current service coverage maps show that 5G and 4G access is available across nearly the entire country already. Prices are shockingly low by global standards, most people use the Internet on their phones anyway, and unlimited download plans are the norm. Starlink is also not suited for dense urban areas, and those living in tall apartment buildings might have trouble installing the receiver. 

To compete with cellular services, Starlink will have to offer much better speed and reliability, with competitive total cost of ownership. It could have an advantage in extremely harsh terrain, forested areas, and places with very low population density, but cost will be a limiting factor. The company will also need a huge sales force, and will have to train and deploy staff across India who can visit prospective clients to determine if and how a satellite receiver can be installed. 

If the company can overcome these challenges and find its audience, it has the potential to bring about a new high-speed Internet access revolution, bringing millions of Indians online and enabling infrastructure-level and device-to-device connectivity on a scale unlike anything we’ve seen before.

So will Elon Musk visit India next week and make a huge Starlink announcement? It looks likely that there will be at least some confirmation of the company’s launch plans, and maybe even prices. However, it will still be some time before we’ll be able to sign up as end users.