Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, in a social media post on X on Wednesday, April 16, announced that he met with a delegation of Starlink officials to discuss the company’s future plans to invest in India.

In his post, Goyal highlighted that he met with Starlink’s Vice President Chad Gibbs and Senior Director Ryan Goodnight to discuss extending India’s partnership with the Elon Musk-owned company. 

“Discussions covered Starlink’s cutting-edge technology platform, their existing partnerships & future investment plans in India,” said Piyush Goyal in his post on platform X.

Starlink’s partnership with Jio, Bharti Airtel

Elon Musk’s Starlink announced its move to sign a partnership agreement with India’s telecom major Bharti Airtel to bring high-speed satellite internet service to India, according to the BSE filing on Tuesday, March 11.

This deal will give SpaceX, the owner of the brand Starlink, the right to sell Starlink services in India after they get regulatory approval from the country’s authorities. 

“Working with SpaceX to offer Starlink to Airtel customers in India is a significant milestone and further demonstrates our commitment to next-generation satellite connectivity,” said Gopal Vittal, the Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Bharti Airtel, in an official statement.

One day later, Reliance-owned Jio announced that, similar to Airtel, it has partnered with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide Starlink’s high-speed internet services to its customers in India.

Starlink aims to leverage Jio’s market dominance to enter India’s market and provide satellite internet technology to ensure reliable data access across the nation. 

Starlink’s satellite technology

Starlink uses Earth’s lower orbit to deliver broadband (Wi-Fi) internet to people and was the first and largest satellite internet provider to do so at a global scale, according to its official website.

People can use this broadband internet network to support streaming, online gaming, video calling, etc., by tapping into the satellite network through their Starlink equipment.

The partnership between the US-based firm and the Indian telecom majors is expected to address India’s connectivity issues in rural and remote regions and expand the nation’s domestic telecom industry.