SpaceX to focus on 10 rural Lok Sabha constituencies for 80% of Starlink terminals shipped to India: India head

SpaceX is likely to focus on 10 rural Lok Sabha constituencies for 80% of the terminals shipped to India, said Sanjay Bhargava, the newly appointed India head for Starlink satellite communications (satcom) services.

The Elon Musk-founded American company is set to shortly apply to the Indian government for a licence to launch its Starlink satellite broadband services in the country and is targeting 200,000 active terminals by December 2022.

"In October, I am also keen to have 30-minute virtual conversations with MPs, ministers, secretaries to GOI (government of India) or principal secretaries to states to see if they think 100% broadband would help improve lives," Bhargava said in a LinkedIn post on Sunday.


"We will probably focus on 10 rural Lok Sabha constituencies for 80% of the Starlink terminals shipped to India. The number of pre-orders from rural constituencies will be one factor that helps us select focus constituencies."

Pre-orders from India for Starlink service have already crossed 5,000, said Bhargava. The company had urged potential customers to get added to its priority list by depositing $99 (about ₹7,400) to avoid the hassles of a waiting list for broadband-from-space services which it hopes to launch sometime next year. Bhargava had said last Friday that the government approval process is a complex one and that the company plans to target a quick approval for its pilot programme before working to get an approval for a pan-India launch.

The stakes are high given that the likes of OneWeb, Starlink, Amazon and the Tata-Telesat combine are readying to enter India's nascent fast broadband-from-space segment, leveraging their respective low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations.

Experts see India as a key emerging satellite broadband services market, with almost ₹7,400 crore annual revenue opportunity in the near-term.

This is the case since nearly 75% of rural India does not have access to broadband, as many locations are still without cellular or fibre connectivity.

Accordingly, LEO satellite systems are being seen as a viable alternative, though they are costly at present.