Hoping to work with industry and govt to expand their Telecom services once we are operational, says India Starlink executive

Starlink

A very large percentage of Starlink users are those who live in rural areas, Parnil Urdhwareshe, Director, Starlink Satellite Communications, said on Wednesday. He added that the company is currently focused on being ready to provide Indians with the option of satellite communication services.

“We’re working with the industry that has built India’s broadband story and learning from them. We hope to expand their networks or work with the government to extend telecom services to Indians who are not yet connected,” Urdhwareshe added.

“We are right now just focused on being ready with providing Indians with that option (satellite communication services). In-SPACe, DoT, TRAI, etc. are all working to make Satcom available to users,” the Starlink executive said at the India Mobile Congress 2025.

According to sources, the rules for the allocation of spectrum for satellite communication services are likely to be in place within the next two months. These rules represent the final lap that will enable Elon Musk-led Starlink, Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, and Jio SES to apply for radiowaves and begin rolling out their services.

The executive noted that Satcom provides high-speed connectivity and efficient broadband to areas that have been difficult to access through terrestrial networks. “The goal has always been to complement existing services. A very large percentage of Starlink users are those who live in rural areas. And a very large number of them had Starlink as their first provider of high-speed broadband. Satcom is not new, but historically there have been limitations with respect to capacity, reliability, and accessibility,” Urdhwareshe said.

“At Starlink, we wish to remove all limitations. We wish to provide users with a great internet experience,” he said, adding that the number of users the company can serve in metropolitan Mumbai is one-tenth of those it can serve in rural parts of some states.

Last month, Starlink received provisional spectrum clearance from the Department of Telecommunications to begin trial satellite broadband services in India, taking the company a step closer to commercial launch. With the trial spectrum in hand, Starlink will now build its ground infrastructure and conduct security compliance tests. The company plans to set up base stations at ten locations, with Mumbai as the central hub.

Starlink has also applied for an import license to bring in equipment, including landing station hardware, to set up its ground station in India, and has outsourced the task of building the gateways to several companies, including Equinix.