Elon Musk-led satellite communications venture Starlink has partnered with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to use Aadhaar Authentication to verify customers before onboarding them, a government press release announced.
The UIDAI appointed Starlink as a Sub-Authentication User Agency and a Sub-eKYC user agency as part of this partnership.
Earlier in July, the American satcom received approval from IN-SPACe – India’s space regulator – to launch its services in the country. Notably, this go-ahead is valid until July 7, 2030.
Moreover, it also received the Department of Telecommunication’s (DoT) approval in June 2025 in the form of the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) permit.
“Aadhaar e-KYC will facilitate the onboarding of users (on Starlink) seamlessly, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements while delivering high-speed internet to households, businesses, and institutions,” the press release read.
Importantly, it added that Aadhaar Authentication of users will happen on a voluntary basis as per the existing rules.
How Many People Can Starlink Serve in India?
Last month, the Minister of State (MoS) for Communications, Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, mentioned that Starlink would only be able to provide 2 million connections and an internet speed of up to 200 Mbps within India.
This broadly boils down to the American satcom’s capacity limitations, as a result of which each district in the country will only be able to receive around 40,000 to 50,000 connections, Sekhar explained.
Furthermore, he revealed that the cost of installing and using satcom services will be relatively high, with monthly costs coming out at around Rs 3,000.
Consequently, he added that there is no way satellite communication can offer any ‘meaningful connectivity in India’.
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Sekhar made these comments at a BSNL review meeting that he and the Minister of Communications, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, held in June this year.
Why This Matters
While Starlink’s latest partnership with the UIDAI is coming on the heels of similar agreements with Jio and Airtel, pointing towards its gradually expanding footprint in India, one must question whether its services will even be viable if one puts Sekhar’s comments in focus.
The MoS for Communications’s remarks gather even more significance in light of the argument that satcom will fill in a major gap in rural and remote areas. To explain, if each Starlink connection costs Rs 3,000, the average rural consumer won’t exactly be the American satcom’s target end-user.
And if this is the case, then two pertinent questions come up:
- At what scale will Aadhaar authentication actually work to verify customers before onboarding with Starlink?
- And following the above question, both UIDAI and Starlink should ask themselves: how effective will this partnership ultimately be?
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