Elon Musk's SpaceX Plans To Power India's Rural Regions With Starlink Broadband Internet

Space Exploration Technologies Corp, or SpaceX, aims to power India’s rural communities with its satellite-based high-speed internet service Starlink once it secures government approvals, as per a  post from the company’s India executive Sanjay Bhargava’s on Microsoft Corp-owned MSFT LinkedIn.

What Happened: Bhargava was responding to a presentation that shared a plan to roll out the Starlink broadband service to rural Indian communities next year, starting with twelve districts in the first phase after securing proof of concept. 

The plan aims to roll out 200,000 Starlinks by the end of next year — of which 160,000 would be in rural districts alone, as per the presentation.

“At Starlink, we want to serve the underserved. We hope to work with fellow broadband providers, solution providers in the aspirational districts to improve and save lives,” Sanjay Bhargava, Starlink Country Director India at SpaceX said. 

The Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk-led SpaceX plans to provide 100 Starlink hardware kits for free to rural Indian communities in the first phase. 

See Also: Elon Musk Suggests Starlink Could Follow Tesla To India Soon

Why It Matters: Starlink is a SpaceX venture designed to beam down high-speed internet, especially in remote areas, from satellites in orbit to Earth.

The presentation was first shared by Anita Kapur Bhargava, who said she is working pro-bono on rural development. 

Musk in August noted Starlink’s expansion to 14 countries and said that it is awaiting licenses to expand to several other countries.

The SpaceX CEO said the company had shipped 100,000 terminals of Starlink, a service that is currently in the beta phase — adding he hoped the service would be available across the “Earth” soon.

Price Action: Tesla shares closed 3.43% higher at $1,114 a share on Friday.

Photo: Courtesy of SpaceX via Wikimedia