• Source:JND
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Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw hinted that billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink will get the government's approval to provide its internet services in India. On Wednesday, Vaishnaw welcomed Musk's Starlink to India. 

Starlink is the world's largest low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellation operated by SpaceX.

"Starlink, welcome to India! Will be useful for remote area railway projects," Vaishnaw posted on social media platform X.

However, Vaishnaw deleted his X post as Starlink has not yet gotten the government's approval. It also has not been allotted any satellite spectrum in India.

The post suggested that Starlink may work with Railways to facilitate internet services for the rail projects in the remote areas.

Vaishnaw is also the minister for information and broadcasting, as well as electronics and information technology.

Starlink strikes deals with Jio and Airtel

His comments follow two separate deals with Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms and Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel struck by SpaceX, the aerospace company led by Musk, to bring Starlink's broadband internet services to India.

The two deals follow months of bickering over how Musk's venture should be granted spectrum rights. Over the past few months, rivals Jio and Airtel had come together to demand an auction for awarding spectrum for satellite services in India as they feared an administrative allocation would give Musk airwaves at a price lower than what they had paid via auctions in the past.

Jio will offer Starlink equipment in retail outlets and online stores and also support customer installation and activation on devices. Jio and SpaceX will also explore how they can boost each other's offerings.

On Tuesday, Bharti Airtel announced that it is entering into an agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink's high-speed Internet service to India on a non-exclusive basis. Bharti already partners with Eutelsat OneWeb, the second-largest LEO constellation.

Similarly, Jio Platforms has a joint venture with SES, another leading global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider.
Starlink can help Bharti and Jio provide connectivity to previously underserved areas, especially areas currently with limited to no coverage.

(With PTI inputs)

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