Two of India’s largest telecoms operators, Reliance Jio and its rival Bharti Airtel, signed separate deals with SpaceX last month to bring the Starlink internet service to the country. The announcement came soon after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States in February where he met Musk.
Industry executives said the influence of the world’s richest man with the White House had likely nudged the Indian government to re-evaluate a Starlink deal that had been pending for months. Trump, who has been pressuring New Delhi to reduce its import tariffs, announced a 26 per cent tariff on India last week before he reversed the decision on Wednesday by ordering a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs affecting dozens of Washington’s trading partners including the South Asian country.
Indian officials are hoping to address Washington’s concerns on the trade surplus enjoyed by India through a bilateral deal, the first tranche of which is expected to be ready by September.
The US has been seeking greater access to India’s huge market. Delhi has indicated that it is willing to give greater access to US firms in certain sectors as a precursor to the trade deal, according to analysts.
The move by Starlink to sign partnership deals with Jio and Airtel to explore opportunities in India’s booming telecommunications market has surprised analysts due to past differences between the Indian companies and Musk. For instance, Reliance, Jio’s parent company, in November urged Delhi to rethink its plan to allocate satellite broadband spectrum instead of holding an auction. Starlink has favoured Delhi’s plan to allocate the spectrum.
