NDTV Decodes Starlink: Behind Elon Musk's Satellite-Based Internet Service

Internet from space. Very fast internet from space.

That is what Starlink by Elon Musk offers to over 100 countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, and the Maldives, as well as almost all of Central, South America and Southeast Asia, and all of Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. And, pending regulatory approval, in India by 2026.

Sources told NDTV Starlink will begin by offering 600 to 700 Gbps, or gigabits per second, of bandwidth, and that this can only support up to 50,000 concurrent users in certain cities. It will later be expanded to a staggering 3 Tbps, or terabits per second, by 2027, DoT sources said.

What Is Starlink?

A constellation of thousands of interlinked low Earth orbit, or LEO, satellites - each located approximately 550km above the Earth's surface - that can deliver significantly wider and faster internet coverage than traditional cable-based internet service providers, or ISPs.

This allows Starlink to offer "high-speed, low-latency internet" to users worldwide.

Latency refers to the time delay for a data parcel to travel from one point to another in a network. It is the delay, for example, between the time you click on a link and a web page opens.

Satellite-based internet has certain immediate advantages over cable-based broadband services, including freedom from geographical and topographical challenges.

Starlink is already operational in countries shaded in light blue. Photo: starlink.com

Traditional internet, for example, relies on terrain through which data cables can pass, and which requires such terrain to be easily accessible for repair or maintenance work.

By contrast, Starlink requires only a clear view of the sky for the user's terminal - a small dish that connects to satellites to transmit and/or receive data and provide internet access.

This means Starlink provides stable and high-speed internet even in remote regions.

How Does Starlink Work?

Surprisingly, the core technology behind Starlink isn't new.

Satellite-based internet - a system in which ground stations transmit signals to satellites in orbit that, in turn, relay data back to the same or a second station - has been around for decades.

Earlier this referred to internet from a single geostationary satellite nearly 30,000 km above the Earth's surface. This meant data packets had to travel over 50 times the distance.

And this meant the latency was much higher.

According to Starlink, latency figures for LEO satellites of today is around 25ms, or milliseconds, compared to over 600ms for internet services from any geostationary satellite.

Difference in latency speeds for low Earth orbit vs geostationary satellites. Photo: starlink.com

What Starlink does is put the older concept into overdrive by positioning thousands of miniature satellites in a low orbit. The exact number is unclear, but SpaceX, the company that owns Starlink, has said it eventually wants over 42,000 tablet-sized satellites in low Earth orbit.

This is critical, the company said, to meet increasing bandwidth demand, as more people turn to Starlink to watch Netflix, browse the web, or play resource-heavy multiplayer games online.

Starlink Not The Only Contender

There are others that offer high-speed satellite-based internet services, including Amazon.

The global e-commerce giant has its own satellite broadband network called Project Kuiper, a $10 billion effort unveiled in 2019 and which it describes as "an initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of more than 3,000 satellites in low Earth orbit".

Last month the first batch of these satellites - 27 in total - were launched from Florida in the United States. There could be as many as five such launches this year alone, Reuters reported.

Viasat, another US-based global service provider, is also offering satellite internet.

How To Get Starlink?

The service isn't yet available in India.

However, when it does open for business, it is a simple process.

Home-use Starlink installation kits come with only six items - the terminal and a kickstand, a router, cables to connect everything, and an independent power supply unit.

Starlink's satellite-based internet service consists of six items only, Photo: starlink.com

And Starlink also offers an app to direct you to install the terminal at an optimum location.

Starlink India Prices

Sources told NDTV Starlink will likely land in India with two distinct plans.

The first is the B2B model that will target business and corporations, who may be purchasing multiple connections for office use, as well as intermediaries like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.

Airtel and Jio - India's largest telecom operators and internet service providers, and which had previously opposed Starlink's entry - have now signed deals to sell its product.

There will likely also be a D2C, or direct-to-consumer model.

READ | Ready, Set Beam. Starlink Nears India Launch, Bandwidth, Prices

The DTC model is expected to be a premium service, with personal Starlink ground stations to cost between $250 and $600, which is roughly Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000.

This is in line with global prices, although the company will also have one eye on India's reputation as a price-conscious market and the already low cost of data in the country.

Space-focused financial firm Quilty Space projects Starlink will add three million subscribers globally in 2025, with a million coming from Asia, its director of research Caleb Henry told Reuters, adding he expects India to be the biggest contributor to Starlink's Asia growth.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.