Elon Musk is now all set to begin his second big service in India—Starlink, a satellite Internet service aimed at delivering faster connection to the country. Starlink has received the approval in principle from the Indian government after a long time of struggle with the regulatory authorities. This initiative is to improve connectivity by focusing on the rural areas where conventional broadband services are scarce.
The government has been very instrumental in the provision of an entry of Starlink into the Indian market. For instance, it decided to allocate satellite spectrum through administrative mechanisms instead of using auctions. This approach is in line with global practices and is considered a big victory for Musk, who thanked Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia for supporting this method. Exempting itself from the auction process, which has been supported by Indian telecom gurus such as Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal, Starlink can enter the market faster as auctions are complex.
However, this is not Musk’s first attempt at India. His first creation was PayPal, which he started in 1998. But by the time PayPal started its operations in India in 2017, Musk had already sold his shares in the company when it was bought over by eBay in 2002. While Musk was not involved in the day-to-day running of the company, PayPal’s entry into India came at a time when the country was starting to embrace digital payments, which established Musk’s early impact on the industry.
That is why, with Starlink, Musk is seeking to achieve the same kind of success by focusing on connectivity issues. The service is said to offer download speeds of between 50Mbps and 150Mbps, and the company plans to launch thousands of satellites to increase coverage and redundancy. As India further progresses its Digital India initiative, Starlink could be the one to help close the digital gap, making this one of the most exciting tech events in recent years.
