Earlier in the day, Starlink India website had been updated and showed the residential package pricing for the Indian market ahead of its commercial launch. However, the Elon Musk led company now says that the ‘Starlink India website is not live’ and blamed the residential prices leak on ‘config glitch’ which made the dummy test data visible.
As per Lauren Dreyer,VP of Starlink Business Operations, the satellite internet service is currently focused on obtaining final government approvals in India.
In a post on X denied the Starlink residential pack pricing, Dreyer wrote, “The service pricing for customers in India has not yet been announced, and we are not taking orders from customers in India.”
“There was a config glitch that briefly made dummy test data visible, but those numbers do not reflect what the cost of Starlink service will be in India. The glitch was quickly fixed.” she added
“We're eager to connect the people of India with Starlink's high-speed internet, and our teams are focused on obtaining final government approvals to turn service (and the website) on.” Dreyer further noted
What did the glitch on Starlink website show?
The Starlink India website showed a subscription price of ₹8,600 per month for the residential package and a required hardware kit with the price of ₹34,000.
Notably, the leaked pricing is almost identical to the Starlink global pricing which is around $120/ month in the US. In contrast, the average fiber broadband connection in India costs around ₹500 - 1,000 per month, meaning that the Starlink would have become an ultra-premium option in the country.
In contrast, Starlink starts at a price of around ₹3,000 per month (converted to INR) in Bhutan and ₹4,400 per month (converted) in Bangladesh.
In a recent interaction with Nikhil Kamath, Elon Musk had talked about the entry of Starlink in India. The billionaire said, “SpaceX is doing great work with the Starlink programme, providing low-cost, reliable internet throughout the world, and hopefully, India. We’d love to be operating in India. That would be great. We are operating in 150 different countries now, with Starlink,”
Musk also stated that Starlink is particularly beneficial in rural areas where traditional networks struggle.
“In cities, you’ve got these cell towers that are only a kilometer apart. But cell towers tend to be inefficient in the countryside. So, in rural areas is where you tend to have the worst internet because it’s very expensive and difficult to lay all the fiber optic cables or to have high bandwidth cellular towers. So, Starlink is very complementary to the existing telecom companies.” he noted
