Elon Musk’s Satellite company Starlink creates headlines once more-Focus on rural broadband connectivity. Top officials confirm the news.10 Lok Sabha constituencies in high hopes. Residents awaiting Starlink Internet services -An initiative by one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs Elon Musk.

The company is planning to hold virtual conversations with Indian Parliament Authorities including Ministers, Members of Parliament, and other top officials in the Indian Government. The plan is to enhance the importance of the internet and utilize it to change the lives of people living in rural areas.

Starlink Country Director -Sanjay Bhargava said, 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 percent broadband would help improve lives. We will probably focus on ten rural Lok Sabha constituencies for 80 percent of the Starlink terminals shipped to India.

Upon receiving permission to proceed with the project, Starlink has plans to initiate internet broadband services in the country from December 2022. The expected number of active terminals is 2 lakhs for now.

“The number of pre-orders from rural constituencies will be one factor that helps us select focus constituencies,” Bhargava continued.

“Most of this will be provided by terrestrial broadband, but the hard-to-serve areas will be handled by Satcom providers like Starlink. We look forward to the day a rural constituency in India can declare itself to be 100 per cent broadband,” Bhargava said.

Rates Of New Broadband Services

The charges are to be expected as below: –

Deposit of $99 i.e Rs7,350/- with data speeds 50 to 150 megabit per second (beta stage).

Talking about the pre-orders, Starlink officials announce in a note:-

The government approval process is complex. So far there is no application pending with the government, so the ball is in our court to apply for consideration which we are working on. Our approach will be to get pilot approval quickly if pan India approval will take along.

“We are optimistic that we will get approval for a pilot program or Pan India approval in the next few months,” the note states hopefully.

What has to be seen now is the number of pre-orders the company will receive. This number will be a determining factor in the company’s plans for rural development in the country.