Elon Musk has a plan for India's rural internet gap- but can Starlink reach every village?

New Delhi: SpaceX founder Elon Musk has pitched Starlink's satellite internet service as a potential solution to India's rural connectivity gap, saying it could help connect some of the country's most underserved areas.

"Starlink would help the least served in India, especially in rural areas," Musk said in a post on X on Wednesday.

He was responding to a post by X user DogeDesigner, which highlighted Starlink's potential to connect remote villages in India.

According to the post, 11,256 listed villages in India still had no 4G coverage as of May 2026.

It also cited data showing that India had 1.093 billion internet subscriptions in March 2026. Of these, 440.87 million were in rural areas, putting rural internet subscription density at 48.31 per 100 people, compared with 126.80 per 100 people in urban areas.

Musk's comments come amid reports that Starlink has submitted a fresh application to provide satellite communication services in India.

The company had earlier faced a setback after the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) rejected its application for its second-generation, or Gen 2, satellite network. The regulator reportedly raised concerns that certain features of the system and the radio frequencies proposed by Starlink did not comply with Indian requirements.

Starlink's Gen 2 system also includes direct-to-device connectivity capabilities.

Operated by Musk's SpaceX, Starlink provides broadband internet through a constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites. The company has been seeking regulatory approvals to launch its satellite internet services in India, a market with a large but unevenly connected population.

Musk's latest remarks highlight Starlink's pitch that satellite connectivity could help bridge the gap in areas where conventional terrestrial networks remain limited or unavailable.

(PTI)