Elon Musk Expresses Commitment to Bringing Starlink's High-Speed Internet Service to India

The Starlink India website temporarily displayed pricing information which was later clarified as a configuration error. (File)

New Delhi:

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has expressed enthusiasm about bringing Starlink's affordable internet service to India. His comments came in response to Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's post on social platform X about a meeting with Lauren Dreyer, Vice President and Senior Director of Starlink Business Operations at SpaceX.

Minister Scindia shared details of the meeting, stating, "A pleasure to meet @LaurenDreyer, Vice President of Starlink Business Operations (SpaceX) and the senior leadership team to discuss advancing satellite-based last-mile access across India."

He emphasized that satellite technology would play a crucial role in fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a digitally empowered India. The technology aims to extend connectivity to remote areas of the country, strengthening internet access for citizens in rural and hard-to-reach regions to accelerate digital inclusion as part of broader development efforts.

Recently, Starlink experienced a configuration issue that inadvertently displayed pricing information on its India website. The company has since fixed this glitch and clarified that "those numbers do not reflect what the cost of Starlink service will be in India."

The temporary display had shown a monthly service price of Rs 8,600, with new subscribers needing to purchase a hardware kit for Rs 34,000.

Lauren Dreyer addressed the situation on X, stating, "The Starlink India website is not live, service pricing for customers in India has not yet been announced, and we are not taking orders from customers in India."

She further explained that a configuration glitch briefly made test data visible, which did not represent actual service costs planned for India. Dreyer assured that the error was promptly corrected.

Dreyer also expressed Starlink's eagerness to provide high-speed internet connectivity to people across India, noting that their teams are currently working on obtaining final government approvals to launch the service and activate the website.

Starlink promotes key features of its service including plug-and-play installation, over 99.9% uptime reliability, resistance to extreme weather conditions, and unlimited data usage. These advantages position the service particularly well for consumers in regions where traditional broadband infrastructure remains unreliable.