Musk’s Starlink to start services in India

NEW DELHI: India’s Maharashtra state, home to financial hub Mumbai, will be the first to roll out Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service in the world’s most populous country, the chief minister said.

The launch of Starlink, which provides high-speed internet to remote locations using low-orbit satellites, has sparked fierce debate in India over issues ranging from predatory pricing to spectrum allocation.

India – projected to have more than 900 million internet users by year’s end – granted Starlink a licence in June.

Maharashtra was “poised to become the first Indian state to formally collaborate with Starlink”, the state’s Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on the Musk-owned platform X late Wednesday.

“This collaboration… will ensure the state leads India in satellite-enabled digital infrastructure.”

In March, India’s biggest telecom service providers – Jio Platforms and its rival Bharti Airtel – announced deals with SpaceX to offer Starlink internet to their customers.

Starlink’s business operations vice-president Lauren Dreyer said she was “excited” to further India’s digital vision.

“Looking forward to connecting schools, medical facilities and beyond in the most remote and unconnected areas once Starlink receives final approvals”, Dreyer said in a statement.

Major technology firms looking to court users in the world’s fifth-largest economy have made a flurry of announcements about expanding into the country this year.

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In October, Google announced it will invest $15 billion in India over the next five years to build a giant data centre and artificial intelligence base there, the largest AI hub it is investing in outside of the United States.

US companies Anthropic, OpenAI are both planning Indian offices, while Perplexity announced a major partnership in July with Indian telecom giant Airtel.