Elon Musk’s Starlink may get green signal soon to start broadband services in India

The government may soon approve a license to Elon Musk-owned Starlink to commence satellite broadband services in the country, sources close to the development told this newspaper on Tuesday.

The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) on Tuesday held an inter-ministerial panel meeting to decide on the global mobile personal communication by satellite (GMPCS) licence.

The inter-ministerial panel, chaired by telecom secretary Neeraj Mitta, was also attended by Starlink executives.

“Today’s meeting was held around the security issue. It was a positive meeting,” said a senior DoT official.

Another official said the meeting was fruitful, and the government is happy with the response it got from the executive. “I don’t think the company will face any hurdle in getting a GMPCS licence.”

In India, a company needs to get a GMPCS licence to start voice and data services via satellite technology.

Usually, the licence is granted for a period of 20 years. So far Bharti-led Oneweb and Jio Satellite have secured GMPCS licence. Starlink is the third applicant to have applied for the licence.

As per the report, Amazon has sought approval from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) to offer broadband-from-space services in the country.

If the licence is granted to the Jeff Bezos-led company, it would be pitted against the likes of Elon Musk-owned Starlink, Bharti-backed Oneweb and Reliance Industries’ Jio Satellite in India.

As per India’s Space Policy 2023, private low-earth orbit (LEO) and medium-earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellation operators will launch fast broadband from space services in the country.