In third South Asia launch, Starlink now in Sri Lanka

Starlink, the SpaceX-operated satellite internet service, is now available in Sri Lanka, the third market to allow the service in South Asia after Bhutan and Bangladesh. Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, announced the service’s availability in the country on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter. 

Parnil Urdhwareshe, Starlink’s top executive in India, has played a role in at least two of the launches the company has managed in neighbouring countries: he had met Sri Lanka’s presidential Adviser on climate change Ruwan Wijewardene last July. In 2023, Mr. Urdhwareshe also met with the then State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak in Bangladesh, shortly before trials for the service started in the country, according to a report in the Dhaka Tribune.

At current exchange rates, Starlink is priced at ₹3,430–4,280 (12,000–15,000 LKR) per month for residential connections, and ₹4,280–8,560 (15,000–30,100 LKR) for portable ‘roam’ plans. The one time hardware equipment is priced at ₹17,185–33,685 (60,200–1,18,000 LKR). The prices are roughly comparable to those announced for the other two South Asian countries.

Starlink has obtained a Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) authorisation, a key regulatory requirement to operate in India, last month. However, it still needs orbital slot assignments from IN-SPACe, and allocation of spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications. The lag between this particular approval and services being available is not unprecedented — Sri Lanka granted Starlink a five year authorisation on August 12, 2024.

As of March 2025, Sri Lanka had 21.5 million mobile broadband connections (the country classifies 3G and 4G connections under broadband), and 2.6 million fixed line broadband connections, according to the latest monthly report by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka. 

Starlink is also awaiting regulatory approvals in all of India’s neighbouring countries, except China: the firm has published a map showing it is awaiting clearances in Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.