Starlink can connect India’s least-served rural areas, says Elon Musk
Satellite internet provider awaits its commercial launch as over 11,000 villages remain outside the country’s 4G network
Elon Musk has said Starlink could help expand internet access across India’s most underserved regions, particularly rural communities that remain beyond the reach of conventional telecommunications networks.
“Starlink would help the least served in India, especially in rural areas,” Musk wrote on X on Friday.
He was responding to a post highlighting India’s continuing digital divide, which claimed that 11,256 listed villages remained without 4G coverage as of May 2026.
Although India had 1.093 billion internet subscriptions in March 2026, only 440.87 million were in rural areas. Rural internet subscription density stood at 48.31 connections for every 100 people, significantly below the urban figure of 126.80.
The post also cited data on BharatNet, the government’s rural broadband programme, which has laid more than 850,000 route kilometres of optical fibre and made approximately 221,000-gram panchayats service ready.
However, only 80,472 points of presence at gram panchayats were reportedly operational as of June 2026, highlighting the gap between infrastructure deployment and active connectivity.
Satellite broadband services such as Starlink could help extend coverage to remote villages, mountainous regions and islands where laying fibre or building mobile towers may be difficult or commercially unviable. Such networks could also provide emergency connectivity in disaster-affected areas.
Starlink is awaiting the completion of regulatory procedures, including spectrum allocation and final approvals, before beginning commercial operations in India.
With IANS inputs