- Starlink is in active talks with India and has received positive government feedback on connectivity goals
- The firm applied for a license and awaits final approval after receiving a Letter of Intent
- Concerns over Starlink terminals used in Iran have caused regulatory caution amid geopolitical tensions
Starlink - Elon Musk's satellite-based internet services provider - remains active talks with the government and has received encouraging feedback on its capabilities to advance India's connectivity goals, a senior official of the firm said Wednesday.
On X (also owned by Musk), Lauren Dreyer, the vice president for Starlink's business operations, dismissed "misleading stories based upon unsubstantiated claims from anonymous sources" and said: "We have worked with the Government of India through all of the required regulatory and compliance processes in a transparent and responsible manner."
Starlink had applied for a licence to start satellite communications services in India. The government then issued a Letter of Intent but grant of the final license is awaited. Dreyer's post was in response to a Bloomberg report this week that said the government had frozen approvals for commercial operations over concerns about the use of Starlink terminals in Iran.
Starlink remains in active and productive discussions with the Government of India contrary to misleading stories based upon unsubstantiated claims from anonymous sources.
— Lauren Dreyer (@LaurenDreyer) June 9, 2026
We have worked with the Government through all of the required regulatory and compliance processes in a… https://t.co/BQdcDHmPaf
Sources in the Union Home Ministry told Bloomberg such uses - amid fighting in the Middle East as a result of the US-Israel war - came despite the service not being licensed for use in Iran.
Reports, meanwhile, have also said clearances for Starlink required assurances the United States-based company will ensure compliance with Indian laws during geopolitical tension, i.e., when foreign governments may issue conflicting demands.
This particular concern, reports said, arose as a result of a cautious approach by the India towards the satellite communication sector as a whole after the Iran war.
But Dreyer played down any such concerns, and said: "We have heard nothing but encouraging feedback on Starlink's capabilities and its potential to advance India's connectivity ambitions, especially in remote and underserved regions. We remain fully committed to India and to working with the government to bring Starlink's services very soon to the country."
In May last year 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.
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.
NDTV Explains | What Exactly Is Elon Musk's Satellite-Based Internet Service
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.
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.
With input from agencies
