Stories
Elon Musk's Starlink Faces High Cost Hurdles in India
- •Elon Musk claims that delaying the rollout of Starlink in India is a crime against the people, though potential monthly costs were listed at 8600 rupees.
- •In Bangladesh, where Starlink was launched in May 2025, subscriber numbers remained low at around 1862 after four months due to high pricing.
- •The potential monthly cost of Starlink is roughly 44 times higher than the average monthly revenue per mobile user in India.
- •High equipment and monthly costs could make Starlink unaffordable for average households in remote areas, despite the necessity for satellite internet.
Key Questions Answered
Starlink's Indian website temporarily listed a placeholder home internet price of Rs 8,600 per month, which is nearly double the cost in Bangladesh where residential and lite plans range from Tk 6,000 to Tk 4,200. The monthly cost in India would be approximately $89, compared to around $47 and $33 in Bangladesh.
According to TRAI data, India's average mobile revenue per user is Rs 196.04, making Starlink's potential Rs 8,600 monthly fee about 44 times higher. Meanwhile, BSNL offered a 5,000 GB fibre broadband plan for Rs 799 per month, which is roughly 11 times cheaper than Starlink's anticipated cost.
Starlink's vice president of business operations, Lauren Dreyer, explained that configuration issues caused experimental and incorrect details to appear temporarily on the website. She noted that prices for India have not been officially announced and no customer orders were being accepted.
