Project Starlink is planning to move in India. The initial estimates about Starlink’s entrance in India is mid 2021. But the entry of Elon Musk in India in the form of a satellite internet provider will not be going to easy.
India is becoming digital and soon after 2016, internet revolution has began. We all know how Jio has impacted the kingdom of the telecom giant and bought them down to the feet.
Overview:-
- Start of Satellite internet connection.
- How to get Starlink connection in the Indian subcontinent.
- Cost of Starlink connection in India
- Starlink connection speed
- Satellite internet vs 5G (Starlink vs Airtel vs Jio)
- China’s version of Starlink.
- Starlink’s future in India.
Starlink in India: Starting the age of satellite internet (context)
Jio was ahead of its time by introducing 4G when all the telecome operators were filling their pockets by providing so called super fast internet 3G. Jio’s 4G entry shook the market and forced other telecom giants to re-iterate their future plans.
Now, initial wave of the internet revolutions seems completed as 4G devices are services are common now.
What about the next wave of internet revolution in India? India still has majority of the remote region which are not connected to internet yet.
On the other side JIO is all set to go ahead with 5G implementation.
Well 5G is improvment over 4G but its getting the basic internet is more important than having fast internet.
Well, here comes the age of stallite internet.
Elon musk’s vision to connect the globe with sattlite internet is now a reality in the form of Starlink.
How to get starlink connection in India?
Starlink started distributing the its internet kits outside india. But as of now starlink is not operational in India.
Starlink is yet to receive the permission from TRAI. Once TRAI permissions will be granted starlink will starts its operations in india as well.
With the user of starlink, Indians are expected to get faster internet connection to the far remote areas as well.
Cost of Starlink connection in India
As of now Starlink connection kit is retailed at $499 and $99 per month charges. There are no official figures yet about the connection charges of Starlink in India but we can get some estimations.
As per estimation Starlink is expected to cost 36 thousand rupees for the kit and 7500 per month connection.
Well for some it may look like very high but in when its better than not having a connection to the remote areas. People can buy in collaboration and share the internet and cost as well.
Starlink connection speed in India
The average speed of the Starlink is somewhere between 15Mbps to 100Mbps in initial installations. The average ping for these connections are 30ms to 68ms.
In India we can expect starlink internet speed to range between these numbers.
Satellite internet vs 5G (Starlink vs Airtel vs Jio)
In the second step of internet revolution in India Jio seems to face tought competition. At one side where Jio is all set to implement 5G technologies which might created monopoly in 5G technology in India.
On the other side world is about to witness the new age of internet receptioon in the form of sattelite internet.
Airtel is also buying stakes in European satellite internet provider which is the direct competition to startlink.
China’s version of Starlink.
China is also expected to launch its almost 9200 satellites to compete with starlink. They also don’t want to loose the race of filling lower earth orbits to showcase the satellite internet dominance.
Starlink’s future in India.
As of now Starlink’s entry in India may disturb the Indian telecom industry hence TRAI is also expected to think a lot before taking a decision.
At any cost mid 2021 timeline is not going to fulfill. Starlink won’t be getting clearance anytime sooner for Indian citizens.
If it happens the next major challenge will be pricing.
Additionally defence sector may also put some comments.
In a nutshell, Just like Elon’s Tesla’s entry in India is pending since ages, Project Starlink is also expected to follow the same path.