Elon Musk's Starlink aims to start broadband service in India from Dec next year

New Delhi

Elon Musk-led SpaceX's satellite broadband arm Starlink aimsto start broadband service in India from December 2022, with 2 lakhactive terminals subject to permission from the government, a top companyofficial said on Friday.

Starlink Country Director for India Sanjay Bhargava inhis social media post said that the pre-order from India has crossed5,000 and the company is keen to work in rural areas for providing broadbandservices.

''Our stretch target is to have 2,00,000 terminals activein India in December 2022. Actual numbers may be much lower than thator even zero if we do not get government approval but it is very unlikely thatwe will exceed 2,00,000,'' Bhargava said.

The company is charging a deposit of USD 99 or Rs 7,350 percustomer and claims to deliver data speeds in the range of 50 to 150 megabitper second in beta stage.

The services of the company will compete with that of RelianceJio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea in broadband and it willbe a direct competitor to Bharti Group-backed OneWeb.

''A remote area in Goa wanted Starlink. We will be workingwith rural constituencies who are keen to have 100 per cent broadband. Most ofthis will be provided by terrestrial broadband, but the hard-to-serve areaswill be handled by Satcom providers like Starlink.

''We look forward to the day a rural constituency in India candeclare itself to be 100 per cent broadband,'' Bhargava said.

In a pre-order note, Starlink said that itsservice is available in many countries and it will be easier for it to getgovernment approvals if it has a high number of pre-orders from India.

''The government approval process is complex. So far thereis no application pending with the government, so the ball is in our court toapply for consideration which we are working on. Our approach will be to getpilot approval quickly if pan India approval will take long.

''We are optimistic that we will get approval for a pilotprogram or Pan India approval in the next few months,'' the notesaid.

The note also explained uncertainty around the deliveryof Starlink services due to shortage of semiconductor and liquidoxygen.

''The semiconductor shortage has affected the rate atwhich Starlink kits can be manufactured. There is a shortage ofliquid oxygen which is required for the rockets to put more Starlink satellitesinto space. Global pre orders have crossed 5,00,000 and around 1,00,000terminals are active so there is a big global backlog,'' the Starlink notesaid.