Starlink Set to Make Inroads in India After Govt’s Approval
Billionaire and businessman Elon Musk has revealed that Starlink is ready to begin operations in India.
According to a statement dated Thursday, November 4, 2025, he confirmed that the service is fully prepared for use and is only awaiting final government approval.
Additionally, he has requested public support, promising to deliver good services to the people of India.
Elon Musk has revealed that Starlink is ready to begin operations in India
Importance of Starlink for Indians
Elon Musk praised Starlink by highlighting that its satellites orbit at about 550 Kilometers, far lower than traditional geostationary satellites at 36,000 kilometers, allowing faster response times. He added that that made them particularly helpful for disasters.
“If an area has been hit with some kind of natural disaster, floods or fires, or earthquakes, that tends to damage the ground infrastructure. But the Starlink satellites still work,” said Elon.
Therefore, the system can also support other networks in the event of poor connectivity and in disaster areas.
“There are laser links between the satellites, so they form a sort of laser mesh. Let’s say if cables are damaged or cut, like fiber cables, the satellites can communicate with each other and provide connectivity,” said Musk.
“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, it 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. It tends to serve the least served,” said Elon Musk.
Regulatory Issues for Starlink Expansion in Africa
With several regulatory problems in its way, Starlink’s expansion in Africa has not been entirely easy.
In November 2023, the company was forced to push back its planned launch in Angola due to delays in obtaining the operating license from the Angolan Institute of Communications.
Elsewhere, in January 2024, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) warned nationals that Starlink was not yet licensed, making the use of its services in Zimbabwe illegal. A few months later, POTRAZ ordered the U.S. firm to block connectivity within Zimbabwe’s borders. It was later confirmed that Starlink had applied for a license from POTRAZ in April 2024, and in October 2025, it was granted an operating permit.
A History of Starlink in Africa
SpaceX launched its first 60 Starlink low-Earth orbit satellites in May 2019.
As of October 8, 2025, there were 8,608 satellites in orbit, with more than 8,592 of them operational.
Despite receiving a license to deploy around 12,000 satellites, SpaceX also gained approval for an additional 7,500 Gen2 platforms.
Starlink reached the one-million-subscriber milestone in December 2022, and by August 2025, it had hit seven million subscribers.
