Elon Musk-Nikhil Kamath Podcast: Not Metros Like Mumbai, Delhi, This Will Be Starlink's Key Market

A recent episode of ‘People by WTF’, hosted by Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, turned into a rare, free-wheeling conversation with SpaceX chief Elon Musk as he delved into the ideas powering his vision

for the future. From the philosophy behind the letter ‘X’ to the disruptive potential of artificial intelligence, Musk ranged widely. But it was the promise of Starlink, his satellite-based internet service, that dominated the discussion.

During the exchange, Musk revealed that Starlink is inching closer to its long-awaited debut in India, a launch that, he claimed, could bring high-speed connectivity to places where mobile towers and fibre cables have never reached. Forest settlements, mountain hamlets, far-flung villages, all, he said, could soon be online.

‘Starlink Works In A Completely Different Way’

Kamath pressed Musk to explain the technology behind Starlink, prompting the entrepreneur to offer a strikingly simple breakdown.

Unlike traditional geostationary satellites that hover 36,000 kilometres above the Earth, and thus suffer from sluggish response times, Starlink’s satellites skim the planet at an altitude of just 550 kilometres. They move “25 times faster than the speed of sound”, Musk said, creating a dense constellation of thousands of satellites constantly circling the globe.

What truly sets them apart, he added, is their ability to talk to one another using laser beams. “It’s like a laser mesh across the sky,” he said, pointing out that the network remains functional even if undersea fibre cables fail. Musk referenced the outage in the Red Sea months ago, noting that Starlink continued operating without interruption.

This, he argued, is why Starlink is perfectly suited for rural or sparsely populated landscapes. Deploying fibre cables or building mobile towers across remote terrain is prohibitively expensive. Cities, on the other hand, have towers spaced barely a kilometre apart.

Musk said the network is also built to endure the unthinkable. “Floods, earthquakes, fires; Starlink stays online,” he added, “And when there’s a crisis, we give access for free. You don’t profit when people are suffering.”

Inside Starlink’s Business Model

The Starlink model revolves around a high-density constellation of small satellites orbiting in synchrony. On the ground, users need a “dish”, a compact antenna installed outside their homes.

Whenever a user clicks on a link, the request travels from the dish to the satellite overhead. The satellite then fires that data through a laser link to a ground station, which pushes it into the wider internet. The response returns via the same path: ground to satellite, satellite to dish, dish to device.

The entire cycle takes just 20 to 40 milliseconds, fast enough to rival fibre broadband. “Low latency,” Musk underlined, “is Starlink’s biggest advantage.”

Why Starlink Won’t Shine In Big Cities

But Musk also offered an unusually candid admission; Starlink cannot beat homegrown internet providers in major metros. “Physics don’t allow for that,” he told Kamath. With satellites sitting hundreds of kilometres away, a dense urban user base simply overwhelms available bandwidth.

Lowering the satellite altitude to 350 kilometres, he said, would still not solve the fundamental congestion problem. Cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru or Delhi, with millions of simultaneous users, require the capacity of terrestrial fibre, not sky-based networks.

There are other constraints too:

1. Pricing: Starlink terminals could cost Rs 33,000 or more, with monthly plans around Rs 3,000, far higher than the inexpensive broadband ecosystem.
2. Obstructions: The dish needs an open view of the sky; high-rises, trees and apartments often block the signal.
3. Regulation: India maintains stringent data-security rules. Starlink has had to navigate concerns around unlicensed equipment and a long list of approvals.

In short, Starlink is unlikely to become the default household internet in metropolitan India. But Musk suggested that niche users like trekkers, remote businesses, emergency responders may find it indispensable. “Even if it serves 1-2% of users, that’s enough,” he said.

A Blueprint For India’s Most Remote Frontiers

Starlink has already secured official approval to operate in India. But Musk’s roadmap suggests that its real market lies far from the bustle of big cities: in Himalayan villages, in the Northeast’s winding mountain roads, in the island chains of the Andaman and Nicobar, and across the deep rural heartland.

These are regions where laying cables is either extraordinarily expensive or simply impossible. Starlink, Musk argued, could become India’s digital leapfrog, not a luxury, but a lifeline.