MUMBAI: Elon Musk said his satellite-based internet service Starlink is not meant for densely populated cities because the physics of satellite communication makes it unsuitable for that purpose, adding that it is designed to deliver connectivity to rural users and restore access after natural disasters rather than compete with urban broadband.Musk made the observation on Starlink’s services, which he will be launching in India in partnership with Jio and Airtel, in a nearly two-hour conversation with Nikhil Kamath, founder of Zerodha, where he also predicted a future driven by rapid advances in AI and robotics. Musk said the future will involve a convergence of his companies, driven by solar-powered AI satellites in deep space. He expects communication to shift from text to real-time video with AI. On the philosophical foundations of AI, he said systems should be governed by “truth, beauty and curiosity”, arguing that strict adherence to truth prevents unsafe reasoning. He also expressed concern about population decline, saying it reduces the scope of human consciousness.His broader comments on technology centred on AI and robotics, which he described as a “supersonic tsunami”. He said working will become optional in under 20 years because automation will increase productivity to the point where AI satisfies all human needs. He also said this transition would trigger widespread deflation and eventually make money obsolete, since the cost of goods and services will approach zero.Musk said Starlink satellites fly in low-Earth orbit at around 550 km, and even if lowered to 350 km, they would still be too far from the ground to match city telecom infrastructure. “The physics is not on our side here,” he said, explaining that a satellite beam functions like “a flashlight” and can support only a fixed number of users within its footprint. He said this makes it “not physically possible for Starlink to serve densely populated cities” beyond “maybe 1% or 2%”, mainly in urban pockets without fibre.He said Starlink works with rather than against terrestrial networks, calling cell towers “very good in cities” but “inefficient in the countryside”. According to him, rural areas face the weakest internet access because fibre rollout and high-bandwidth towers are expensive outside cities. “Starlink tends to serve the least served,” he said. He added that thousands of satellites linked through lasers keep the network running “even if the cables are cut”, which becomes crucial when floods, fires or earthquakes damage ground infrastructure. Musk said SpaceX unlocks access during disasters because “we don’t want to put a paywall up while somebody’s trying to get help”.
