Indian telco Bharti Airtel announced on Tuesday it has signed an agreement with SpaceX to offer its Starlink service in India once the LEO satellite operator gets regulatory clearance to operate in the country.
In the meantime, Airtel and SpaceX will explore ways to offer Starlink equipment in Airtel’s retail stores and sell Starlink services Airtel’s business customers.
The two companies also plan to use Starlink to provide connectivity for communities, schools, and health centres, among others, in the most rural parts of India.
Airtel and SpaceX will also explore possibilities for interconnecting their networks, such as mobile backhaul for Airtel or Starlink leveraging Airtel’s ground network infrastructure.
Airtel’s MD and vice chairman Gopal Vittal said that adding Starlink to its service portfolio will enable it to offer “comprehensive and seamless connectivity packages” to enterprises, businesses, and communities and expand its ability to target areas, with limited or no coverage.
“Starlink will complement and enhance Airtel’s suite of products to ensure reliable and affordable broadband for our Indian customers – wherever they live and work,” he said in a statement.
Exactly when Starlink services will be available in India remains an open question. ETTelecom reported last month that India’s space regulatory agency IN-SPACe is likely to approve Starlink for operations in India "imminently". However, once that hurdle is cleared, Starlink still needs to acquire a GMPCS licence and spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
Starlink has operated in India since 2021 via local subsidiary Starlink Satellite Communications, but was forced to stop accepting pre-bookings in November that year because it didn't hold a licence. The company was ordered to refund deposits to customers in 2022.
Meanwhile, rival LEO satellite operator Eutelsat OneWeb (in which Airtel’s parent company is an investor) received clearance from IN-SPACe to offer commercial services to business customers in November 2023, as well as a GMPCS licence from the DoT.
Last October, the DoT allocated satellite spectrum on a provisional basis to Eutelsat OneWeb and Orbit Connect India – Reliance Jio’s satellite venture with SES – to allow them to test satellite broadband services.
