Elon Musk led SpaceX gets big broadband boost in India; set for face-off with Reliance, Airtel

Elon Musk led SpaceX has just landed in India. The richest man in the world has come to India with big plans to start local broadband operations. On Monday, it has been announced that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX incorporated its wholly-owned subsidiary in India. The company will be starting local broadband operations in India, a top official of the company revealed. The incorporation of its subsidiary will allow the company to start applying for licenses in India.

Significantly, Starlink's services will face some really stiff competition in India in the form of Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Jio, Sunil Mittal led Bharti Airtel and the multinational company Vodafone Idea in broadband space. Also, Starlink will be a direct competitor to Bharti Group-backed OneWeb.

The company is looking at getting its operations up and running in quick time. In fact, SpaceX's satellite broadband arm Starlink aims to start broadband services in India from December 2022. It will be doing the same with 2 lakh active terminals, but this will be subject to securing government permission.

In a social media post, Starlink country director India, Sanjay Bhargava said, "Pleased to share that SpaceX now has a 100 per cent owned subsidiary in India. The name is SSCPL - Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited and the incorporation date is Nov 1, 2021. Happy Birthday, SSCPL. We can now start applying for licenses, open bank accounts etc".

Notably, it will be a running start for Starlink as it has already secured some orders. Starlink claims to have received over 5,000 pre-orders from India. The company is charging a deposit of USD 99 or ₹7,350 per customer and claims to deliver data speeds in the range of 50 to 150 megabit per second in beta stage.

The focus are of the company to provide broadband services in rural areas.

Elon Musk ready to give $6 bn?

Meanwhile, Elon Musk was busy today grilling a UN official who had put the onus on saving the world's poor and hungry on the wealthiest persons in the world. The push and pull between the two of them was over a matter of $6 bn

The official had publicly claimed that just a small percentage of Elon Musk's wealth could help solve world hunger.

Musk responded to David Beasley, director of the UN’s World Food Programme, by asking for concrete action. Beasley had famously asked billionaires, especially Musk, to “step up now, on a one-time basis.”

Just $6 billion could keep 42 million people from dying, Beasley said.

Musk responded on Twitter by saying that if the World Food Programme “can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it”.