Musk's Starlink Prepares To Beam In India — Mega Bandwidth, Premium Pricing, D2C Push

Elon Musks's Starlink is poised to kick off Phase-1 operations in India with 600–700 Gbps of satellite capacity, people familiar with the matter told NDTV Profit.

This initial capacity, officials say, could support 30,000 to 50,000 concurrent subscribers in concentrated areas or urban clusters. But this is just the beginning. The projected capacity is set to scale up to a staggering 3 Tbps by 2027, subject to pending regulatory approvals.

In preparation for this rollout, Starlink has identified two to three Earth station sites, with plans to deploy nine gateways per site—a robust network backbone aimed at ensuring seamless satellite-ground data connectivity.

According to those in the know, as part of a strategic pivot, the company is also expected to expand beyond business-to-business (B2B) partnerships with domestic players and enter India’s consumer broadband market.

The direct-to-consumer model will cater to premium households and users, targeting subscribers in the tens of millions, although a target subscriber figure has not been decided as yet, the people cited above said.

Starlink’s customer hardware—its much-talked-about terminal kits—the Standard Starlink Kit and Starlink Mini are expected to be priced in the range of $250–$600 (Rs 20,000–Rs 50,000), at par with the global benchmarks.

Commercial services are expected to launch within 9–12 months, contingent on final regulatory sign-offs.

Insiders also confirm that Starlink’s Global Licensing Head, Parnil Urdhwareshe, met with DoT officials earlier this month for detailed discussions on compliance under India’s revised satcom policy.

A key regulatory requirement currently under review is the submission of bank guarantees, now mandated for all satellite communication licensees. The Department of Telecommunications is optimistic about issuing Starlink its full licence by mid-June, provided the company accepts all terms unconditionally.

Notably, Starlink recently secured a Letter of Intent from the DoT, a major milestone toward formal entry.

As India eyes next-gen connectivity, Starlink’s orbit-to-home internet promise is inching closer to lift-off—with bandwidth, ambition, and big names all aligned for launch.