Maharashtra Govt Partners Starlink To Offer Satcom Services In Rural Areas

The Maharashtra government has signed a letter of intent (LoI) with Starlink to deploy satellite-based internet services for government institutions in the state.

As part of the collaboration, the two sides will also work together to roll out satellite communication (satcom) services for rural communities and critical public infrastructure across remote and underserved regions in the state.

The LoI was signed between Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Starlink vice-president Lauren Dreyer in Mumbai yesterday.

“… The Government of Maharashtra signed a Letter of Intent with Starlink…, marking Maharashtra as the first Indian state to formally collaborate with Starlink to deploy satellite-based internet services for government institutions, rural communities, and critical public infrastructure across remote and underserved regions and aspirational districts in Maharashtra…,” said Fadnavis in a post on X.

This comes just days after the Elon Musk-led company began hiring in India, across functions such as finance, payments, tax, and treasury operations. As per the company’s job listings, all these jobs will be based out of Bengaluru.

As part of its India rollout, the company last week also leased an office in Mumbai’s Chandivali. The premises, spanning 1,294 sq ft of carpet area on the ground floor of the Boomerang commercial property, was secured for a five-year tenure at a monthly rent of nearly INR 3.52 Lakh.

In addition, the company also plans to establish 20 earth stations or gateways in India across Noida, Chennai, and Navi Mumbai. Of these, three sites are already under construction.

This follows Starlink receiving provisional spectrum clearance in August to build ground infrastructure and carry out security compliance tests. The satcom giant has already received the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence and has also secured authorisations from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).

However, the company is yet to commercially roll out satcom services as the telecom department is yet to allot spectrum and formalise pricing for the satcom bandwidth. It is pertinent to note that Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio SES are also waiting for spectrum allocation to start their satellite communication services.

If reports are to be believed, Startlink, with its current capacity, can onboard up to 20 Lakh users in India and its user terminal is likely to cost around INR 33,000, with a monthly subscription of INR 3,000.

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