Elon Musk’s Starlink Enters India: What Internet Speeds and Features Can You Expect?

Elon Musk’s Starlink Enters India: Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has rapidly expanded across the globe, providing high-speed internet access to remote and underserved areas.

However, Starlink’s satellites orbit the Earth at a much lesser distance, around 550 km, and cover almost the entire globe. This helps to bring down the latency significantly - around 25 ms vs 600+ ms.

What is Starlink and how is it different?

Starlink operates a network of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, delivering high-speed internet with low latency. The service is already available in several countries and has been particularly beneficial in areas with limited access to traditional broadband.

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For India, the potential benefits are significant. Currently, internet penetration stands at around 47%, leaving over 700 million people without reliable access. Rural connectivity remains a major challenge due to the high costs and logistical difficulties of laying fibre cables and building mobile towers. Starlink’s satellite internet could provide speeds of up to 220 Mbps, making it a viable solution for remote areas.

While the service is now available in over 100 countries, including Bhutan, its launch in India remains on hold due to regulatory approvals and security concerns. However, if approved, what kind of Starlink plans and speeds can Indian users expect?

Starlink Plans and Speeds: What Can India Expect?

Although Starlink’s plans for India haven’t been announced yet, we can look at Bhutan’s pricing and speed models as a reference for what might be expected.

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Bhutan’s Starlink Plans:

• Residential Lite Plan – Nu 3,000 (₹3,001 approx.) per month.

Speeds: 23 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

Suitable for casual browsing, social media, and video streaming.

• Standard Residential Plan – Nu 4,200 (₹4,201 approx.) per month.

Speeds: 25 Mbps to 110 Mbps.

Offers unlimited data usage for gaming, HD streaming, and video conferencing.

However, the performance also depends on location, time of day and the precedence Starlink gives your data in the network based on your service plan.

Uninterrupted use of the services is not guaranteed and actual speeds may be lower than expected speeds during times of high usage, according to Starink.

If Starlink launches in India, pricing and speeds will likely be competitive with other satellite broadband providers like Bharti-backed OneWeb and Jio-SES. Given the 30% higher taxation on foreign digital services in India, Starlink’s plans could be slightly more expensive than in Bhutan, potentially starting at around ₹3,500-₹4,500 per month.

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