Starlink Can Have Only 20 Lakh Customers in India, Won't Affect Telecom Services: Union Minister
Union Minister Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar further said that the upfront cost for satcom services will be too high and the monthly cost may be around Rs 3,000
New Delhi: Playing down the threat to domestic players like state-run BSNL and other telecom service providers, Union Minister Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar on Monday said that billionaire Elon Musk-led satellite communication or satcom services provider Starlink can have only 20 lakh connections in India.
The satcom services are expected to target rural and remote areas where BSNL is known to have a significant presence. “Starlink can have only 20 lakh customers in India and offer up to 200 Mbps speed. That won't affect telecom services,” the minister of state for telecom said on the sidelines of a review meeting of BSNL here.
The minister further said that the upfront cost for satcom services will be too high and the monthly cost may be around Rs 3,000. “BSNL 4G rollout is complete and it does not plan to increase tariffs as of now. We want the market first. There are no tariff hikes planned,” he said.
The minister said that BSNL has seen a 20-30 per cent increase in revenue in the first quarter of the current fiscal year due to the rollout of 4G services and technology is settling down. “Earlier, there were some technical issues but over 90 per cent of them have been sorted out. There were issues around power stations. 30,000 power stations have been replaced with an expenditure of around Rs 600-700 crore,” Pemmasani said.
When asked about the status of Chinese equipment in BSNL, the minister also said that the government plans to continue using indigenous technologies in the state-run firm and it will gradually phase out 2G and 3G-equipment and do away with the need for maintenance of that equipment.
