Starlink: Ashwini Vaishnav first welcomed the entry of Starlink in India, later deleted the post

Recently, Jio and Airtel have partnered with Elon Musk's company SpaceX for Starlink satellite service, under which satellite internet service will be launched in India. A day after the announcement of this partnership, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav welcomed this partnership with Starlink by posting on X (formerly Twitter). He wrote, "Starlink, welcome to India!" However, after some time the minister deleted this tweet. Vaishnav also wrote in his post that "this service will be useful for remote railway projects." 

What is Starlink and how does it work? Starlink is a satellite-based internet service that provides high-speed broadband connection. It does not depend on traditional fiber cables, so that this service can easily reach even inaccessible and remote areas. Apart from this, it can maintain stable connectivity even in natural disasters and bad weather. 

Starlink needs approval in India.

SpaceX is still awaiting government approval to start Starlink service in India, but now that the IT Minister has posted, it is expected that this approval can be received soon, although the deletion of the post is also giving some indication.

India has so far been cautious about satellite-based connectivity and strictly regulates the use of satellite phones. Earlier, Elon Musk has tried several times to get approval for Starlink, but did not succeed.

Now the situation seems to be changing. Elon Musk has become an (unofficial) part of the Donald Trump administration in the US, and this may also soften the attitude of the Indian government towards him. Similarly, the change in import duty on electric cars has also proved favorable for Tesla.