Excited and focused on giving secure, hi-quality broadband experience in India: Starlink exec

Starlink is "excited" and fully focused on being ready to offer Indians a secure, compliant, and high-quality broadband experience, Starlink's India market access director Parnil Urdhwareshe said on Wednesday.

The comment assumes significance given the growing public anticipation over satcom rollout in India with prominent companies including billionaire Elon Musk-owned Starlink, Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, and Reliance Jio-SES, keenly eyeing the high-stakes game of broadband beamed from Indian skies.

Urdhwareshe praised extensive government efforts, citing coordination across the Ministry of Communications, TRAI, DOS, InSpace, and DPIIT.

"We're just focused on being ready to provide Indians who want that option with a compliant, secure and great experience.

“And we're really excited with all of the fantastic work that the government is doing, and you see this in concert across the Ministry of Communications, the TRAI, the DoS (Department of Space), InSpace, the DPIIT, everybody's been doing a whole lot of work to make sure that option is made available to people who want it."

Starlink is "excited" about India prospects, Urdhwareshe said, on the sidelines of India Mobile Congress 2025.

"And we're excited, like I said, on also working with people who've built India's broadband story and in learning from them and maybe hoping to expand their networks or be able to expand what the government is doing or to be able to make available what the government has made available for the vast majority of Indians... to anybody else that has not yet been covered by them," he added.

Earlier at the inaugural of the event, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia noted that satellite communications is expanding horizons, taking connectivity from land to sea to space.

"Satcom market today across telecom and broadcasting, which is at close to $4 billion, will triple to almost $15 billion by 2033," Scindia said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said that Eutelsat OneWeb is looking forward to launching its services as soon as it gets the green signal.

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Speaking on the sidelines of India Mobile Congress 2025, Mittal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid down a path for India beyond manufacturing for self-reliance in sovereign data space, AI and data centre.

On satcom plans and status of OneWeb rollout, Mittal said, "We are looking forward to our launch... as soon as we get the green light."

Last month, the telecom department's highest decision-making body sought clarification from TRAI on certain aspects of satellite spectrum recommendations, with sources indicating that fee mooted for urban customers and the annual minimum spectrum charges suggested by the regulator were some areas for reference.

During a panel discussion, Urdhwareshe said that the goal and mission of Starlink has always been to bring high-speed, low latency broadband anywhere in the metro sector, including places where it has just been very difficult.

"A very large percentage of Starlink users are residential users who live in rural areas, and a very large number of those users are people to whom Starlink was the first option they had for truly great broadband. So, serving those rural users is fundamental to the mission of Starlink," he said.