Meghalaya signs Starlink deal to bring internet to remote areas

The Meghalaya government signed a Letter of Intent with Starlink India on Wednesday to pilot satellite-based internet across the state's remote hill regions.

The government plans to deploy it across education, healthcare, disaster management and economic development ,sectors where poor connectivity has been a persistent issue. The state also sees the deal as a potential model for aspirational district programmes and border security communications.

Starlink, however, currently cannot start services in India because it has not been allocated satellite spectrum to operate commercially. It must also complete security compliance requirements and set up ground infrastructure like earth stations.


According to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, unreliable connectivity has long held the state back as Meghalaya's rugged terrain makes conventional telecom infrastructure expensive and often impractical, leaving large pockets of the population offline. He said the government hopes that Starlink will solve this problem as its low-earth orbit satellites bypass the need for ground-based towers.

The pilot will test whether the technology can reliably deliver high-speed internet across the state before a wider rollout is considered.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who flew in for the signing, called Meghalaya's use push on technology adoption encouraging. No financial terms were disclosed and the agreement was signed by Additional Chief Secretary, Sampath Kumar on behalf of the state government.