Airtel partners Elon Musk’s SpaceX for providing Starlink’s high-speed internet services in India

Airtel, Elon Musk’s SpaceX join forces to beam Starlink’s super-fast internet to India

At last Elon Musk cuts a deal in Indian telecom market. Sunil Mittal, headed Bharti Airtel, entered a partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for providing Starlink’s high-speed internet services to its customers in India. This agreement is subject to SpaceX receiving authorisations to sell Starlink’s satellite communications-based services in India, Airtel said in a statement on Tuesday.

This is a distribution agreement allowing Airtel to sell SpaceX’s Starlink services in India, a major breakthrough for the Musk-owned satellite Internet firm. The agreement does not mean that services will be offered immediately and Starlink still needs to get necessary authorisations from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Home Affairs before it can commence operations in India.

The agreement will enable Airtel and SpaceX to further explore how Starlink could complement and expand Airtel’s offerings, and how Airtel’s expertise in the Indian market could complement SpaceX’s direct offerings to consumers and businesses. Bharti Airtel Managing Director and Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said that working with SpaceX to offer Starlink services to Airtel customers in India is a significant milestone and further demonstrates the company’s commitment to next-generation satellite connectivity.

“This collaboration enhances our ability to bring world-class high-speed broadband to even the most remote parts of India, ensuring that every individual, business, and community has reliable internet. Starlink will complement and enhance Airtel’s suite of products to ensure reliable and affordable broadband for our Indian customers – wherever they live and work,” Vittal said.

Under the pact, Airtel and SpaceX will explore offering Starlink equipment at Airtel’s retail stores, Starlink services via Airtel to business customers, opportunities to connect communities, schools, and health centres, among many others, in even the most distant rural parts of India. Airtel and SpaceX will also explore how Starlink could help expand and enhance the Airtel network, as well as SpaceX’s ability to utilise and benefit from Airtel’s ground network infrastructure and other capabilities in India, the statement said.

Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX, said the team at Airtel played a pivotal role in India’s telecom story, so SpaceX working with them to complement its direct offering makes great sense for the business.

“We are excited to work with Airtel and unlock the transformative impact Starlink can bring to the people of India. We are constantly amazed by the incredible and inspiring things that people, businesses and organizations do when they are connected via Starlink,” Gwynne Shotwell said.

Mukesh Ambani‘s Reliance Jio currently dominates India’s mobile and broadband market with more than 500 million mobile internet users. Airtel too has more than million mobile and broadband subscribers. New collaboration with Starlink will give advantage to Airtel in tapping more customers due to satellite technology advances.

Current Indian telecom, broadband market

The total telephone subscriber base in India grew marginally to 1,189.92 million in December 2024 with Jio adding the highest number of subscribers in both mobile and fixed-line segments, the Regulator TRAI report released on Tuesday said. Total telephone subscribers stood at 1,187.15 million in November, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

Reliance Jio Infocomm was the frontrunner with 476.58 million broadband subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel (289.31 million), and Vodafone Idea (126.38 million). While urban telephone subscriptions rose from 659.87 million in November to 663.37 million in December, rural subscriptions fell from 527.27 million to 526.56 million during the same period.

Wireless subscribers grew from 1,148.65 million in November 2024 to 1,150.66 million in December 2024, at a monthly growth rate of 0.17 per cent. Wireless teledensity increased to 81.67 per cent at the end of December, against 81.59 per cent at the end of November.

Reliance Jio added 3,906,123 wireless subscribers, while Bharti Airtel saw a net addition of 1,033,009 subscribers during the period. Vodafone Idea lost 1,715,975 wireless subscribers, according to the data. BSNL and MTNL lost 316,599 and 896,988 wireless subscribers.

Private access service providers held 91.92 per cent market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL had a market share of only 8.08 per cent. Wireline subscribers increased from 38.50 million at the end of November 2024 to 39.27 million at the end of December 2024. The Overall Wireline Tele-density in India increased from 2.73 per cent to 2.79 per cent.

Reliance Jio topped the charts, adding 6,56,823 wireline subscribers. It was followed by Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices, who added 1,62,945 and 9,278 wireline subscribers, respectively. BSNL emerged as the biggest loser in the segment. The company lost 33,306 subscribers. BSNL’s sister-concerned MTNL lost 14,054 subscribers. Total broadband subscribers rose marginally from 944.76 million in November to 944.96 million in December, according to the data.

As of December 31, 2024, the top five broadband service providers who held over 98 per cent market share were Reliance Jio Infocomm (476.58 million subscribers), Bharti Airtel (289.31 million subscribers), Vodafone Idea (126.38 million subscribers), Bharat Sanchar Nigam (35.33 million subscribers), and Atria Convergence Technologies (2.27 million subscribers).

While Reliance Jio grabbed a 50.43 per cent market share, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea held 30.62 per cent and 13.37 per cent share of broadband services at the end of December 2024.

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