Elon Musk has shared fresh optimism about expanding Starlink services to India, saying the satellite internet programme is already delivering reliable and affordable connectivity across the world. Speaking on a podcast hosted by a well known entrepreneur, he highlighted how the service is now active in 150 countries and could play an important role in improving internet access in underserved regions.
Musk said, “SpaceX is doing great work with the Starlink programme, providing low cost, reliable internet throughout the world, and hopefully, India. We’d love to be operating in India. That would be great. We are operating in 150 different countries now, with Starlink.” His comments point to a possible entry into India, a market where rural and remote areas still face connectivity challenges.
He explained that Starlink is designed to provide high speed and low latency internet to places where traditional networks are weak or unavailable. The programme uses thousands of satellites placed in low Earth orbit to create global coverage. Musk described the system by saying, “They’re at an altitude of about 550 km, which is generally at low Earth orbit. Because they are in low Earth orbit, the latency is low.”
Musk also spoke about the laser links that connect the satellites to each other and improve reliability. He said, “You have got thousands of satellites providing low latency, high speed Internet throughout the world, and they are interconnected as well. There are laser links between the satellites, so they form a laser mesh. If the cables are cut, the satellites can communicate with each other and provide connectivity.”
He added that Starlink is often deployed during natural disasters to support emergency response. “Whenever there is a natural disaster somewhere, we always provide people with free Starlink internet connectivity. We don’t take advantage of a tragic situation,” he said.
Discussing its usefulness outside cities, Musk said Starlink is especially effective in rural regions where setting up fibre networks or high bandwidth cell towers is costly and difficult. “In cities, you’ve got these cell towers that are only a kilometer apart. But cell towers tend to be inefficient in the countryside. So, in rural areas is where you tend to have the worst internet because it’s very expensive and difficult to lay all the fiber optic cables or to have high bandwidth cellular towers. So, Starlink is very complementary to the existing telecom companies.”
However, he also pointed out the system’s limitations in crowded urban areas. “Unfortunately, physics doesn’t allow for that. We are too far away. So, at 550 km, even if we try to reduce it, about as low as we can go is about 350 km, it’s still very far away. So it’s not physically possible for Starlink to serve densely populated cities.”
Musk’s remarks suggest that India could soon be part of Starlink’s expansion plans, especially in areas where reliable connectivity is still lacking.
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