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Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday welcomed Elon Musk's Starlink to India and said it will help railway projects in remote areas of the country.
"Starlink, welcome to India! Will be useful for remote area railway projects," Vaishnaw posted on social media platform X.
Vaishnaw is also the minister for information and broadcasting, as well as electronics and information technology.
His comments follow two separate deals with Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms and Sunil MIttal's Bharti Airtel struck by SpaceX, the aerospace company led by Musk, to bring Starlink's broadband internet services to India.
The two deals follow months of bickering over how Musk's venture should be granted spectrum rights.
In recent months, rivals Jio and Airtel united in calling for a spectrum auction for satellite services in India, fearing that an administrative allocation would grant Musk access to airwaves at a lower cost than they had previously paid through auctions.
Jio will offer Starlink equipment through retail outlets and online stores, while also providing support for customer installation and device activation. Additionally, Jio and SpaceX will explore ways to enhance each other’s services.
Starlink, operated by SpaceX, is the world’s largest low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.
On Tuesday, Bharti Airtel announced that it had entered into an agreement with SpaceX to introduce Starlink’s high-speed Internet service in India on a non-exclusive basis. Bharti already collaborates with Eutelsat OneWeb, the second-largest LEO constellation.
Similarly, Jio Platforms has a joint venture with SES, another leading global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider.
Starlink can help Bharti and Jio provide connectivity to previously underserved areas, especially areas currently with limited to no coverage.
The deals by Airtel and Jio come weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Musk, seen as very close to US President Donald Trump, in Washington to discuss issues, including space, mobility, technology and innovation.
Modi was in the US to meet Trump, who in his second term as the US President upped the ratchet on tariffs against various countries, including India.
(With PTI inputs)
