Starlink faces affordability test in India as low-cost telecom plans dominate market
Elon Musk wants a slice of India’s booming digital economy. But for Starlink, his satellite broadband venture, the challenge is not just tapping the country’s growing appetite for data — it is persuading consumers to pay a premium for connectivity in a market where telecom operators have driven prices down sharply.
India’s digital economy contributes around 14 per cent of gross value added (GVA), fuelling an insatiable demand for connectivity. The country generated 71.6 exabytes of wireless data traffic in the third quarter of FY26, making it the world’s second-largest market for mobile data traffic after China, according to a report by Analysys Mason.
