Maharashtra signs deal with Starlink for satellite-based services

• The Maharashtra government announced a partnership with Elon Musk’s satellite communications venture in India to deploy a host of satellite-based internet services.

• The state government signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Starlink Satellite Communications Pvt Ltd on November 5 in Mumbai.

• This marks Maharashtra as the first Indian state to collaborate with Starlink to deploy satellite-based internet services for government institutions, rural communities, and critical public infrastructure across remote and underserved regions and aspirational districts.

• With this landmark decision, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Maharashtra will lead India in satellite-enabled digital infrastructure. 

• The Maharashtra-Starlink collaboration supports the state’s flagship Digital Maharashtra mission and integrates with its coastal development, and disaster resilience programmes. 

What is Starlink?

• Starlink delivers high-speed, low-latency internet to users all over the world. 

• As the world’s first and largest satellite constellation using a Low Earth Orbit, Starlink delivers broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, video calls and more. 

• Starlink is engineered and operated by SpaceX.

• Most satellite internet services come from single geostationary satellites that orbit the planet at 35,786 km. As a result, the round trip data time between the user and satellite — also known as latency — is high, making it nearly impossible to support streaming, online gaming, video calls or other high data rate activities.

• Latency is one of the most important factors in perceived experience when using the internet – web pages load faster, audio and video calls feel closer to real-life, and online gaming feels responsive.

• Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that orbit the planet much closer to Earth, at about 550 km, and cover the entire globe. Because Starlink satellites are in a low orbit, latency is significantly lower

• Starlink currently operates more than 6,750 satellites currently in orbit.

• Starlink has partnered with Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio to sell its services in the country.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)