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BUSINESS
With Starlink entering India, there are concerns among telecom operators, Jio, Airtel, about losing customers.
Elon Musk, the world's richest man, is set to launch his satellite internet services in India through Starlink. Many are wondering if it would pose a challenge to domestic players like Jio, Bharti Airtel and BSNL. But now, Minister of State (MoS) for Telecom, Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, has clarified that Musk-led Starlink can have only 20 lakh connections in India. This has played down the threat to state-run BSNL and other telecom players, including Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel.
Union Minister Sekhar was speaking on the sidelines of a review meeting of BSNL in New Delhi. "Starlink can have only 20 lakh customers in India and offer up to 200 Mbps speed. That won't affect telecom services," the minister said.
Satcom services in India
With Starlink entering India, there were concerns among telecom operators about losing customers. Satcom services are expected to target rural and remote areas where BSNL is known to have a significant presence. A government official mentioned that the limit on Starlink connections is due to its existing capacity. The minister said that the upfront cost for satcom services will be too high and the monthly cost may be around Rs 3,000.
BSNL 4G rollout complete
The minister also said that BSNL 4G rollout is complete, and it does not plan to increase tariffs as of now. "We want market first. There are no tariff hikes planned," he said. The minister said that BSNL has seen a 20-30 per cent increase in revenue in the first quarter of the current fiscal year due to the rollout of 4G services and technology is settling down. BSNL has installed 2G and 3G technology using some of the equipment from Chinese vendors, including ZTE.
"Earlier, there were some technical issues but over 90 per cent of them have been sorted out. There were issues around power stations. 30,000 power stations have been replaced with an expenditure of around Rs 600-700 crore," Pemmasani said, adding that improvement in power supplies has resulted in higher uptime for BSNL networks and enhanced customer's experience.
(With inputs from PTI)