Starlink: All you need to know about Elon Musk's satellite-based internet service

Earlier this week, the country's top two telecom service providers Airtel and Reliance Jio announced a partnership with Elon Musk's Starlink to offer satellite-based internet service in India.

Since its launch in the US and Canada in early 2021, Starlink has expanded its services over 100 countries worldwide.

In 2022, the company had opened pre-order for $99 (approx. Rs 7,201 as per Forex price at the time) in India, but had to return the amount to customers, as the government did not allow Starlink to start operation without getting proper approval from regulatory agencies.

.TRAI plans to limit satellite permits to five years, defying Musk's Starlink. Now, the SpaceX subsidiary is all set to get approval and start the service soon in India.

Here's all you need to know of Elon Musk's Starlink:

. In January 2015, Elon Musk announced setting up Starlink at Redmond, Washington.

After getting all the statutory approvals from the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) and other regulatory agencies, the company first deployed two test Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites in February 2018 and followed up by launching 60 more satellites in May 2019.

Since then, it has put several thousand more forming constellations across the Earth's sky to deliver fast internet.

LEO satellites usually orbit around 550km above the Earth. According to the latest data, Starlink has about 7,086 satellites in orbit, of which 7,052 are working.

The company has plans to expand it to 42,000 in the coming years.

. Starlink's novel initiative to offer internet service to remote regions is facing backlash from several international space agencies. They have raised concerns about Starlink overcrowding the space with too many satellites and the possibility of crashing into their spacecraft.

In 2021, China had complained to the United Nations about controlling the number of satellites in the space, as its space station faced several near-miss incidents.

. Starlink (latest V2 series), which weighs around 800 kg, has a shelf life of about five to seven years. They come with an advanced end-of-life mechanism and ION propulsion system with argon thrusters. In case there is a need for manoeuvres to avoid crashing into satellites in the space, it can be moved to a safer distance. Also, it is used for deorbiting manoeuvres to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.

They are designed in such a way that the satellites, once they re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, disintegrate completely and burn. There is no chance of any harmful piece of the satellite hitting the ground.

. Starlink offers internet connectivity via a network of satellites from space directly to the devices.

Subscribing to Starlink internet dish is similar to Direct-To-Home (DTH) cable service in India. The company offers a portable satellite dish kit. It can be fixed to the stable structure at the top of the house, permanently. There are several more types of kits in different sizes that can be subscribed to as per the needs.

The dish needs an electricity source and wired connection to the base Wi-Fi router inside the home. The latter will connect wirelessly with any compatible devices such as smartphones, tablets, computers and other Internet-of-Things (IoT) gadgets at home. Once these are taken care of, the user can use the Starlink mobile application to turn on the Starlink dish to establish the connectivity with the LEO satellites to get internet service.

The request for access to internet from the customer's device goes to the satellite via Starlink router, and it connects to the nearest Starlink ground station to provide link to the internet. The data gets retrieved to the ground station and to the satellite, which relays it to the customer's device. All this process happens within a fraction of a second.

The Starlink ground stations, which have been set up across the world act as an intermediary between satellites and the internet.

As per the company, the latency of Starlink's systems is just 25ms. It is more than good enough to support live HD video streaming, gaming and consume buffer-free multimedia content on the OTT apps on phones and smart TVs.

It can deliver anywhere between 25Mbps and 220 Mbps download speed. And, for uploads, it can support anywhere between 5Mbps and 20Mbps.

To deliver stable continuous internet service, Starlink satellites are lined very close to each other in the form of constellations. They remain in a particular position for a few minutes and move on. These spots get filled by another group of Starlink satellites, as they circle the Earth's sky.

To make Starlink internet connection glitch-free, the company, as noted earlier, plans to have more than 42,000 satellites in the sky.

Starlink has plans to bring 1Gbps internet in the future.

. -- Starlink can help in addressing the digital divide among urban and rural regions. It can deliver service in the remotest places on the planet. It comes with a portable dish antenna and users can connect it with a mobile or computer to browse the internet.

-- Starlink can also come in handy for commercial fishing shippers, merchant vessels, off-shore oil drilling stations, deep sea research workers and solo sea voyagers to connect with the internet for entertainment or to seek urgent help in the middle of the ocean

--When natural disasters such as tsunamis, cyclones or earthquakes strike, infrastructure such as telecom towers gets destroyed. With Starlink dish kit, the military or any emergency responder agency can set up a communication centre faster to co-ordinate between multiple teams for rescue operations in secluded regions or mountainous areas.

-- Trekkers with Starlink mobile kit can be able to send SOS message to emergency responders or loved ones to timely aid.

-- It should be noted telecom service provider T-Mobile is beta testing Starlink's satellite-based texting and calling features on iPhones and Android handsets (with Android v15.0) in the US.

. -- Like Direct-To-Home (DTH)-based cable service in India, Starlink's internet connectivity goes haywire with overcast conditions. It needs clear blue sky for uninterrupted internet connection.

-- There is a lack of clarity on user privacy on Starlink satellite internet service

Starlink operates under US jurisdiction and this has raised privacy concerns. The data is routed through foreign satellites, which has potential for commercial exploitation.

Also, there is limited Indian regulatory control over the Starlink service.

. In the US, the standard plan for home costs $120 (approx. Rs 10, 446) per month (unlimited data) with one-time payment of $349 (roughly Rs 30,381) for home kit, which includes Starlink dish, a dish mount, which will placed at the top of the house with clear sky view, and a Wi-Fi router base along with power cable inside the home and a 75-feet cable to connect the router to the dish.

. For those outdoor junkies, the company offer Starlink Mini for remote locations. It is a compact, portable kit that can easily fit in a backpack. It costs $599 (around Rs 52,144) and is available for $165 (approx. Rs 14,363) monthly plans with unlimited data allowance.

. There are several types of kits for ships, cars, bus, and more.

. In India, we expect the subscription to be more expensive compared to current internet data plans offered by Airtel, Reliance Jio, VI (Vodafone-Idea) and BSNL.

. Yes, it is possible. In 2020, the government announced the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center (IN-SPACe) to open up the space sector to domestic private firms.

Local telecom players can collaborate with ISRO, which has a proven track record of successfully deploying the NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) system, India's regional satellite navigation system.

It should be noted that Bharti-backed OneWeb (now part of Eutelsat OneWeb), Reliance Jio's JioSpaceFiber and Tata's Nelco are already exploring their own satellite-based internet service.

"Satellite communications is a very strategic layer of communication. We should develop this with 100% control. I don’t think it’s a good idea that two major telecom operators, effectively the only two, have partnered with Starlink for satcom services. It should have been developed indigenously. We have a great legacy and proven track record in space tech. ISRO is a globally reputed organisation known for low-cost satellite making and launches. For our telecom industry, we had the best available. Unfortunately, they chose something that neither goes with our being indigenous goal nor leverages our strength in the domain," said Mohammad Faisal Ali Kawoosa, founder of Techarc, a technology market research firm.

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