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After Maharashtra, the Gujarat government has inked a letter of intent (LoI) with Elon Musk-led Starlink to strengthen digital connectivity in the state through the latter’s satcom service.
In a post on X, Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel said the LoI will enable high-speed satellite-based internet connectivity in remote, border, tribal and underserved areas with limited telecom infrastructure.
The collaboration will support egovernance and common service centres, schools, primary health centres, telemedicine services, disaster management systems, ports, wildlife sanctuaries and key government institutions.
The CM said that a “joint working group”, comprising officials of the Gujarat government and Starlink, will be formed to ensure the execution of the LoI.
The development comes months after Maharashtra signed a similar LoI with Starlink to deploy satellite-based internet services for government institutions in the state.
SpaceX, the parent of Starlink, got clearance from IN-SPACe to kick start commercial operations in India through LEO satellites constellation Starlink Gen1 in July last year. It had received similar approvals from the telecom department and TRAI in 2025.
However, this approval was only for the satellite services. As per a recent report, the company will need fresh approval from IN-SPACe to offer its new technology services like direct-to-device (D2D) connectivity in India. D2D service allows satellites to directly communicate with devices like smartphones, IoT trackers and more.
On the data security front, Indian regulations mandate that Starlink store all user data locally and not use any foreign gateways for routing user traffic. With its existing capacity, the company can support onboarding of up to 20 lakh users in India. Its user terminal is expected to be priced at around ₹33,000 annually, while a monthly subscription will be about ₹3,000.
The Musk-led company is planning to set up 20 earth stations or gateways across Noida, Chennai, and Navi Mumbai. Of these, three sites are already under construction.
Last year, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio joined hands with Starlink to offer the latter’s satcom internet services to their customers in India.
However, it is not yet clear when Starlink will be able to start offering its satcom services in the country, as the spectrum for the service is yet to be allocated. While telecom operators have been pushing for satellite spectrum to be allocated via auctions, Starlink is inclined towards administrative allocation. The Indian government is also in favour of Starlink on the issue of spectrum allocation.
The post Gujarat Signs Agreement With Starlink For Satcom Services appeared first on Inc42 Media.
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