NEW DELHI: Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday urged satellite communication providers to charge low prices for customers in India, saying this could lead to greater penetration and better revenue for firms.
While answering questions in the Lok Sabha, the minister said that India has demonstrated low pricing in terrestrial networks, which offer the lowest prices in the world across both the mobile and broadband sectors.
However, he also noted that pricing is ultimately determined by the companies themselves.
"India has had a very strong track record of showing the world how high volumes and low pricing can lead not only to great penetration but also to significant revenue for firms, and this has been demonstrated in both the mobile and broadband sectors," said the minister.
The statement comes amid reports suggesting that satellite communication broadband services may be more expensive than terrestrial networks.
Recently, Elon Musk-led Starlink had shared ₹8,600 per month as the subscription rate for its residential satellite internet service in India, including unlimited data, a 30-day trial, and a weather-resilient service. However, Lauren Dreyer, Vice President of Starlink's business operations, later clarified that the pricing shown on Starlink's official website for residential consumers in India was due to a "config glitch that had briefly made dummy test data visible".
In neighbouring countries such as Bhutan and Bangladesh, satellite communication pricing provided by Starlink is also higher than that of normal broadband services offered by players like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea.
'Cheapest in the world'
Highlighting telecom pricing in India, the minister said that the country has the highest number of subscribers at the lowest rates.
"What used to be 50 paise per minute in 2014 is today around 0.3 paise per minute—a 97% decline in cost. Similarly, one GB of data, which earlier cost ₹287, now costs around ₹9 per GB, or roughly nine cents. The world average is about $2.49, making India's cost around 5% of the global average," said the minister.
The minister further said that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has already given out three licences: one to Starlink, another to OneWeb, and the third to Reliance.
To assist them in obtaining security clearances, the DoT has provided sample spectrum to enable demonstrations.
"All three players are currently working on this. As soon as they are able to demonstrate compliance with the security norms— such as hosting the international gateway within India, and so on— approval will be granted for them to extend services to customers," the minister said.