Even as the Elon Musk owned Starlink tries to unlock a stalled launch in India, the satellite internet service provider has again made a pitch as a public-service solution with particular focus on rural India. Starlink awaits final regulatory clearance from the Indian government, which would allow it to flip the switch on commercial operations in India.
“Starlink would help the least served in India, especially in rural areas,” wrote Elon Musk, in a post on X, earlier today.
The ambitious BharatNet project which will connect village councils (that is, Gram Panchayats) via optical fibre, has laid over 850,000 route-kilometres of cable, with approximately 2,21,000 Gram Panchayats considered connected, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) confirmed this month.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which monitors the government’s ₹ 26,316 crore ‘4G Saturation Project’, notes that 11,256 of India’s listed villages still had no 4G coverage as of May 2026. Earlier reporting noted: “India had 1.093 billion internet subscriptions in March 2026, but only 440.87 million were rural. Rural subscription density was 48.31 per 100 people, compared with 126.80 in urban India,” it said.
Starlink has secured a licence to offer satellite broadband services in India, and has the ground infrastructure in place according to regulatory and enforcement guidelines. Earlier reporting noted: “11,256 of India’s listed villages still had no 4G coverage as of May 2026,” DogeDesigner said. Earlier reporting noted: Musk’s remark came after reports said that Starlink had submitted a new application to provide satellite communication services in India, news agency PTI said in a report.
