Elon Musk's Visit Sparks Speculation About Starlink's India Entry

Elon Musk-owned Starlink is closing in securing a licence from the Department of Telecommunications, according to media reports. The move indicated Starlink's potential foray into the Indian market. Musk's scheduled visit to India later this week has sparked the possibility of Starlink's launch in the country, a move that can bring high-speed internet to even the remotest parts of India, transforming the digital landscape.

NDTV Profit dwells into what is Starlink, how it differs from other internet service provider and more.

Starlink is among the expanding group of companies that launches small satellites into low-Earth orbit to provide global broadband internet services. The prime focus is to provide fast internet service with low latency, particularly in the remote areas that lack traditional internet infrastructure.

Latency is the time taken for transmission of data between devices, which are crucial where real-time interaction is the key for actions, such as gaming, video calls and instant messaging applications.

In contrast to the traditional internet infrastructure that rely on optical cables, Starlink uses satellite technology to send internet signals from space directly to user terminals. This enables users to access the World Wide Web without the need of on-the-ground infrastructure.

The speed varies between 40 Mbps and more than 300 Mbps, according to the Starlink website. The speed varies from region to region and is subject to local market conditions, with a latency at around 20 to 50 milliseconds.

Starlink started their first operations in the US and started expanding globally. Currently, it operates in several countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

One of Starlink's major competitors is UK-based OneWeb—a collapsed broadband satellite Internet services provider that was revived by Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti group and the UK government.

Other competitors include Jio Satellite Communications, Kuiper (a subsidiary of Amazon), Canada-based Telesat and California-based Viasat.

In November 2023, the Department of Telecommunications has granted the internet-service-provider licence to Jio Satellite Communications and OneWeb, PTI had reported. Jio Satellite and OneWeb will need access to spectrum to provide services directly on the consumer terminal on which the decision is still pending, it had reported.