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Yet, the question experts are asking is whether it will at all ring a bell with rural folk in remote areas, which are its target audience, and that too at a price way higher than current wireless services. Even so, some experts are of the view that the sheer visibility of brand Starlink and its icon Musk may provide an early booster dose to a service that may not find many takers right away.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Sunil Bharti Mittal-backed Bharti Airtel announced a partnership to offer Starlink\u2019s satellite internet service to consumers across India, even as its existing joint venture with Eutelsat OneWeb will be used to offer satellite internet to businesses.<\/p>\n
The day after, Mukesh Ambani-backed Jio Platforms Limited announced the same partnership with Starlink\u2014to satellite internet service to customers, once the latter receives its operating licence from the ministry of communications. In a press statement, the company added that Reliance Jio\u2019s websites and retail outlets will sell Starlink\u2019s \u2018terminals\u2019\u2014the equivalent of a dish receiver in satellite television services\u2014as well as offer customer service on Starlink\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n
Also read | <\/i>Advantage Musk, Starlink as Trump prepares for second tenure<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n However, industry stakeholders have raised questions on how vital the satellite service would be, especially in remote areas that is its core proposition.<\/p>\n A veteran telecommunications industry consultant pointed out that even by FY28, the satellite internet services industry is unlikely to cross $100 million ( \u20b9<\/span>870 crore) in cumulative annual revenue.<\/p>\n \u201cThe services are too expensive for people in rural and remote regions to access, which is what satcom\u2019s major usability claim is,” said the consultant, who works with all leading telecom firms in the country. \u201cAt setup costs of over \u20b9<\/span>30,000, who will buy Starlink in a remote village somewhere in the hills of north-east India?”<\/p>\n Siddhant Cally, telecom research analyst at market researcher Counterpoint India, concurred. \u201cGiven the cost, for the first few years, the target customers for this might not be the average household, but niche applications like remote mission-critical projects, healthcare or education,” he said. \u201cIt won\u2019t have an initial boom in adoption like 5G fixed wireless access services, but as the technology evolves and becomes cheaper, the customer base will widen.”<\/p>\n Read this | <\/i>Spectrum war comes to satellites as Jio locks horns with Starlink<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n A second industry consultant, pointing to India\u2019s huge market, said that Starlink will have to offer specialized pricing for India, \u201cbut that does not mean that it won\u2019t see traction”. He added that rolling out the service with Jio and Airtel means that the service provider will reach maximum market breadth without needing to extensively hire an on-ground service team, which would cost it significantly more than a partnership with the established players.<\/p>\n In January 2022, Starlink\u2019s initial rollout of pre-registering users was halted by the ministry of communications, citing its lack of operating licence in the country. At the time, within less than one year, reports had underlined that Starlink had gathered over 5,000 pre-registrations\u2014even with a deposit fee of $99 ( \u20b9<\/span>7,500 at 2021\u2019s forex rates).<\/p>\n In comparison, terrestrial fibre broadband services in India are available at half the cost, and no additional deposit fee, with speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps). This disparity is expected to make satcom services hard to sell at first, but anticipation around Starlink may give both Airtel and Jio a clear fillip to rope in users.<\/p>\n