IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Welcomes Starlink To India: 'Will Be Useful For Remote Railway Projects'
India welcomed Starlink, a subsidiary of Elon Musk's SpaceX, as Jio Platforms and Bharti Airtel partner to bring Starlink's broadband internet services to India.
Union Minister for Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday welcomed Starlink to India signalling an official entry of the subsidiary of Elon Musk-owned Speace X in the country.
"Starlink, welcome to India! Will be useful for remote area railway projects," Vaishnaw said in a post on X.
The development comes after billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms inked a pact with SpaceX to bring Starlink's broadband internet services to India.
The deal came a day after telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel signed a similar partnership deal with SpaceX.
Starlink, welcome to India!
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) March 12, 2025
Will be useful for remote area railway projects. pic.twitter.com/rQPmjeKkGt
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Rivals Come Together
Over the past few months, competitors Jio and Airtel have come together to demand an auction for awarding spectrum for satellite services in the country. The demand came as the telecom companies feared an administrative allocation would give Musk airwaves at a price lower than what they had paid via auctions in the past.
In a statement on Wednesday, Jio Platforms, the company that holds telecom and digital properties of Reliance Industries Ltd said the agreement "is subject to SpaceX receiving its own authorisations to sell Starlink in India."
Jio will facilitate retail outlets and online stores to offer Starlink euipment while also supporting customer installation and activation on devices.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Bharti Airtel announced that it is entering into an agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink's high-speed Internet service to India on a non-exclusive basis.
Bharti Airtel already has a partnership with Eutelsat OneWeb, the second-largest LEO constellation. Similarly, Jio Platform also has a joint venture with SES, a leading global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider.
Elon Musk's Starlink is the world's largest low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellation operated by SpaceX.
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Modi-Musk Meeting
The agreements between SpaceX and Jio Platforms and Bharti Airtel comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with Musk in Washigton during the former's visit to the US.
During the meeting, the two discussed issues, including space, mobility, technology and innovation.
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