Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday met with Starlink representatives including Vice President Chad Gibbs and Senior Director Ryan Goodnight to discuss the company's investment plans, advanced technology platform and existing partnerships in India.
Starlink's push into India aims at a huge user base, with the company already supporting more than five million subscribers in 125 markets as of February 2025. Jefferies analysts forecast Starlink might add as many as 5.7 million new users in India over the next five years. The low-earth-orbit network is projected to provide internet speeds of multiple gigabits per second, with much of the infrastructure already built out subject to needed permits.
Starlink's present capability is 350 terabits per second, which is expected to increase exponentially with the launch of third‑generation satellites.
The Indian telecom ministry, the world's largest bureaucracy that regulates communications infrastructure, has been a challenge for Starlink for a long time. Even though Starlink was granted permission to operate in Bhutan and Pakistan, it has yet to clear security checks by India's Ministry of Home Affairs.
In an X post, Goyal stated that his meeting with Starlink representatives centred on the company's advanced technological platform, current collaborations and plans for future investments in India.
The meeting comes little over a month after Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel announced partnerships with Elon Musk's SpaceX to offer Starlink services in India, both telecom giants will stock Starlink equipment in their retail stores. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea is engaged in "exploratory talks" with the satellite internet provider.
Furthermore, telecom operators such as Jio are reluctant to allow the SpaceX subsidiary to access satellite spectrum without an auction.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met Elon Musk in Washington, DC earlier this year, but Starlink's fate in India is unclear. Even if authorisation is given by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), there are additional approvals required such as pricing by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and administrative spectrum allocation by the DoT. This is pending, in contrast to Bharti-backed OneWeb, which is already providing service to some defence customers on a trial basis.
Despite regulatory challenges and Indian telecom behemoths' opposition to spectrum access, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal held talks with Starlink regarding their investment plans and collaborations. Though Starlink has its eye on a humongous Indian user base, its fate lies in key go-ahead approvals by Indian authorities.