Starlink Collaborations Herald New Age of Global Connectivity: Sunil Mittal

New Delhi, March 12 (NationPress) In a significant move, Airtel has declared a collaboration with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to introduce its economical satellite internet service to India. Sunil Bharti Mittal, the Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, remarked on Wednesday that a transformative era of seamless global connectivity is on the horizon for users.

Mittal highlighted that soon, customers will have the capability to use their mobile devices in the most remote locations, whether in the skies or over vast oceans.

During his opening remarks at the recently held ‘Mobile World Congress 2025’ in Barcelona, Mittal urged both telecom and satellite sectors to collaborate, leveraging their strengths to achieve the goal of connecting the unconnected across oceans, skies, and challenging terrains.

“I am pleased to see active partnerships emerging between satellite firms and telecom operators,” he stated.

Airtel has formalized an agreement with Musk’s SpaceX to deliver Starlink’s high-speed internet services to its clientele in India. This marks the inaugural agreement in India, contingent on SpaceX obtaining its own authorizations to market Starlink in the nation.

Mittal recalled making a similar appeal in his keynote at the Mobile World Congress in 2017, advocating for operators to reduce roaming fees, which hindered customers from utilizing their home networks and led to a reliance on local SIM cards or Wi-Fi hotspots.

“The industry responded positively; roaming charges decreased, and the activation rates of international home networks surged. Today, global roaming tariffs are much more affordable,” he remarked, expressing confidence that the satellite and telecom sectors worldwide will heed his call to collaborate.

For the telecom sector, integrating satellite technology should be viewed as akin to the incorporation of new technologies for customers.

“Similar to the evolution of 4G, 5G, and future 6G, we now have another technology in our portfolio, namely SAT-G,” Mittal stated.

Airtel and SpaceX will investigate the possibility of offering Starlink equipment through Airtel’s retail outlets, providing Starlink services to business clients, and connecting communities, educational institutions, and healthcare facilities, even in the most rural regions of India.

Additionally, Airtel and SpaceX will assess how Starlink can assist in expanding and improving the Airtel network, alongside SpaceX’s opportunity to leverage Airtel’s ground network infrastructure and other capabilities within India, as mentioned by the company.