Elon Musk’s satellite internet company Starlink will soon start providing Internet services in India.
Tesla will apply for a commercial licence in India to provide broadband internet services to the users in India.
Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet company, will begin providing Internet services in India soon. The Tesla-backed company will apply for a commercial licence in India to provide users with high-speed internet access. The statement comes only days after the Indian government’s Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, told Starlink that it needed to secure the necessary approval to offer satellite-based internet services in the country.
Talking about its plans of rolling out the internet services in India, Starlink Country Director, Sanjay Bhargava said in a LinkedIn post, “We hope to have applied for a commercial license on or before 31st January 2022 (unless we hit some major roadblock). We felt it would be useful to prepare two guides that help in thinking about and planning for Starlink – one for Individuals and Private Sector and one for State And Union Territories. The company cannot offer services in India without acquiring a licence to do so. Post the orders by the DoT, Starlink had closed its pre-booking portal which was previously available.
By December 2022, Starlink hopes to have installed 200,000 devices across India. Starlink intends to place 80 percent of the devices in rural areas. In a Linkedin article, Bhargava stated that providing 100 percent broadband connectivity in India will necessitate coordination among stakeholders, service providers, and technology.
Bhargava previously revealed that SpaceX now has a 100 percent owned company in India, which allows it to seek for permits and open bank accounts there. He also claimed that 5,000 pre-orders have already been placed in India. But it turns out that none of that can be processed right now because the company has not applied for a licence to operate in India from the Indian government. Customers who wanted to be on a priority list had to pay a deposit of $99 or $7350. The amount will be deducted from the monthly subscription if the services are active.
