Elon Musk’s Starlink to get licence to begin satellite services in India: Report

Starlink in India

Elon Musk’s Starlink is set to receive the go-ahead to offer satellite services in India after the government cleared its application for a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence, The Times of India has reported.

Starlink, which waited for over three years for the licence, has agreed to new set of rules laid out by the department of telecom (DoT) and paid the fees as mandated by the law, the report cited sources as saying.

Starlink officials are expected in New Delhi in the next few days to sign the papers for the GMPCS licence, the report said.

The US-based company is in sync with the new licence conditions and several guidelines set by the government to begin operations in the country, one of the sources was cited as saying.

Moneycontrol couldn’t verify the report independently.

After receiving the licence, Starlink will need a final approval from Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), which issues authorisation for satellites to operate on Indian territory, the report said.

It added that the final nod by IN-SPACe should be given at the inter-ministerial standing committee, which is expected soon.

Moneycontrol reported in May that DoT had issued a letter of intent after the company agreed to comply with licensing conditions critical to national security. "The In-SPACe authorisation will also be given soon," a source added.

Minister of state for communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani told media on May 6 that Starlink's application was in the final stages of approval.

On April 16, Starlink's India market access director Parnil Urdhwareshe, vice president of business operations Chad Gibbs and senior director for global licensing and market activation Ryan Goodnight met commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal to expedite the approval process.

With the nod, Starlink will join Eutelsat, OneWeb, and the Jio-SES joint venture in India’s growing satellite internet space.

(Disclosure: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.)