Airtel, Jio Sign Agreement With Elon Musk's SpaceX For Starlink Internet In India

Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel on March 11 announced that an agreement with SpaceX was successfully signed to bring high-speed internet services to its Indian customers, marking the first agreement to be signed in India with SpaceX.

Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Vice Chairman, Bharti Airtel Ltd said, "Working with SpaceX to offer Starlink to Airtel customers in India is a significant milestone and further demonstrates our commitment to next-generation satellite connectivity."

Airtel in a statement said, "The agreement will enable Airtel and SpaceX to further explore how Starlink can 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."

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio also announced its partnership with SpaceX to bring Starlink internet to India on March 12. This development follows a similar deal signed by telecom rival Bharti Airtel the day before. 

In a statement, Reliance Jio said, "This agreement, which is subject to SpaceX receiving its own authorisations to sell Starlink in India, enables Jio and SpaceX to explore how Starlink can extend Jio's offerings and how Jio can complement SpaceX's direct offerings to consumers and businesses."

These announcements came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the United States and meeting with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Starlink is a satellite internet owned by Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX. It delivers high-speed, low-latency internet to all the users, which is engineered and operated by SpaceX.