Elon Musk's Starlink comes to India: Here's how Reliance, Airtel, Vodafone shares reacted

Shares of telecom companies Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel remained in focus today after they signed separate deals with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide high-speed internet services in India. While Reliance Industries (RIL) shares rose up to 1%, Bharti Airtel dropped over 1% in intraday trade, paring opening gains. On the other hand, Vodafone Idea (Vi) shares declined over 6% following this development.

Early today, Reliance Industries (RIL) shares opened 0.75% higher at ₹1,256.85, against the previous closing price of ₹1,247.40 on the BSE. During the session, the country’s most valued stock rose 1.13% to hit an intraday high of ₹1,261.55, while the market capitalisation climbed to ₹16.94 lakh crore.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel shares opened higher by 2.6% at ₹1,704.95 on the BSE today, a day after it finalised a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed internet services to its customers in India. Boosted by the development, the telecom heavyweight gained as much as 3.3% to ₹1,717.25 in intraday trade. However, the stock plunged as much as 4.8% from the day’s high level to hit a low of ₹1,634.80 after its closed rival Jio signed a similar deal with Starlink.

RIL shares gained momentum today after its telecom subsidiary, Jio Platforms Limited (JPL), announced an agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink's internet services to its customers in India. The development came a day after rival Bharti Airtel signed a similar agreement with SpaceX.

On the other hand, Vodafone Idea shares tumbled 6.5% to ₹6.87 in intraday trade as sentiment was dented after the debt-laden company missed the deadline to submit a bank guarantee of ₹6,091 crore to cover the shortfall in its 2015 spectrum auction dues.

In a significant development in the telecom sector, billionaire Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal-led telcos signed separate deals with Elon Musk's SpaceX to bring Starlink's internet services to India. The deals are subject to SpaceX receiving its own authorisations to sell Starlink in India.

Jio Platforms Limited (JPL) has signed a pact with SpaceX to offer Starlink’s broadband internet services to its customers in India, it said in a release today. According to the release, the deal will enable Jio and SpaceX to explore how Starlink can extend Jio’s offerings and how Jio can complement SpaceX’s direct offerings to consumers and businesses. Jio will make Starlink solutions available through its retail outlets as well as through its online storefronts.

Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti Group also signed a similar agreement with SpaceX on Tuesday, stating that Airtel and SpaceX will explore offering Starlink equipment in Airtel’s retail stores. Airtel and SpaceX will also explore how Starlink could help expand and enhance the Airtel network, as well as SpaceX’s ability to utilise and benefit from Airtel’s ground network infrastructure and other capabilities in India, the release noted.

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