Reports, Telecom News, ET Telecom

NEW DELHI: Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to launch its satellite internet services, Starlink, in India sometime in 2022 on a first-come, first-served basis at a refundable pre-order amount of $ 99 (around Rs 7,300) . Compared to geosynchronous satellites, the Starlink is a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite system and it is said to offer latency of up to 600ms which will drop to 20-40ms in the next few days, according to media reports.

Billionaire and head of auto company EV Tesla said in a recent tweet that internet speed will double to 300 Mbps by the end of this year.

It should be noted that beta testing of Starlink’s satellite broadband services is already underway in the US market with data speeds of up to 150 Mbps. In addition, to access the services, users need the Starlink kit comprising a user terminal, a router and a mounting tripod.

The company plans to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites and has already placed more than 1,000 in space.

SpaceX joins Hughes India, a subsidiary of Hughes Network Systems, and OneWeb, backed by Bharti, which is considering India’s satellite internet service market to provide connectivity to remote areas.

Hughes, for example, has already partnered with ISRO to provide internet connectivity to 5,000 villages in eastern Ladakh, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh via communications satellites from ISRO GSAT-19 and GSAT-11.

OneWeb, meanwhile, is expected to start providing satellite internet services in 2022.