New Delhi: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday said he is looking forward to serving India with his affordable internet service Starlink.
He responded to an X post by Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who met Lauren Dreyer, Vice President and Senior Director–Starlink Business Operations at SpaceX.
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,” said the minister.
Scindia further said that as we work to advance PM Narendra Modi’s vision of a digitally empowered India, “satellite technology will play a pivotal role in extending connectivity to the most remote parts of the country and strengthening internet access to every citizen in rural and hard-to-reach regions, ensuring that digital inclusion accelerates broader development.”
Earlier, after facing a configuration glitch that displayed Starlink’s India pricing on its local website, the company said this week that the glitch has now been fixed and “those numbers do not reflect what the cost of Starlink service will be in India”.
The Starlink India website went live with service pricing for customers in India. The satellite-based internet service displayed price at Rs 8,600 per month, with new subscribers have to purchase a hardware kit for Rs 34,000.
Dreyer said in an X post that “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”.
“There was a config glitch that briefly made dummy test data visible, but those numbers do not reflect what the cost of Starlink service will be in India. The glitch was quickly fixed,” she clarified.
Dreyer further said that they are eager to connect the people of India with Starlink’s high-speed internet, and “our teams are focused on obtaining final government approvals to turn service (and the website) on”.
Starlink emphasises features like plug-and-play installation, more than 99.9 per cent uptime, extreme weather resistance, and no data caps for its push to reach those consumers in regions where terrestrial broadband remains unreliable.
(IANS)
