Starlink Reportedly Gets License for Satellite Internet Service in India

Starlink, the satellite Internet service run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has reportedly been granted a licence by the Department of Telecommunications to operate in India. This means it could soon announce pricing, plans and availability here. Starlink service is currently available to consumers and businesses across North America, western Europe, Australia, and parts of East Asia, Africa, and South America. The company offers satellite receivers that are weatherproof, and ones that can be fitted to cars, boats and airplanes. Only an unobstructed view of the sky is needed, and consumers can install the satellite antenna themselves, guided by an app.  

In India, Starlink will compete with Reliance Jio’s JioSpaceFiber and Bharti Airtel’s OneWeb, which have already received their licences. Amazon has also applied for a licence to provide Internet access via its Project Kupier satellite constellation. The Starlink constellation is currently made up of over 5,200 miniature low-earth orbit satellites, with thousands more planned.  

According to a report by Mint, the American company was approved for a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence this week after having clarified its shareholder structure, which was required by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. However, changes will still need to be incorporated into the Telecommunications Act (2023) in order to allow spectrum to be allocated, before services can commence.

Starlink initially signalled an interest in the Indian market in 2020. It established an India business unit and announced that it was pursuing regulatory approval in late 2021, at which point it began accepting pre-bookings on its website with a 2022 target to begin services. However the DoT issued a warning to potential subscribers in India, stating that the company had not been licenced to offer any services at the time, following which all pre-bookings were cancelled and refunded. Starlink’s India head, Sanjay Bhargava, resigned shortly afterwards.

The service was initially going to be targeted at remote areas where traditional forms of connectivity are weak or unavailable, with the company stating that 80 percent of terminals would be allocated to preorders in rural Lok Sabha constituencies. It is not yet clear whether this is still Starlink’s plan for India. Starlink could also offer direct-to-phone Internet services in the future.

In the US, Starlink service starts at $120 (Rs. 9,973) per month for unlimited data. The upfront cost for the standard satellite antenna and other needed hardware is $599 (Rs. 49,785) while a high-performance version costs $2,500 (Rs. 2,07,780). Users’ reports of the speeds they have been able to get show significant variations. Ookla’s Speedtest data showed a median download speed of 64.5Mbps in the US for 2023, while several European countries registered median speeds in excess of 100Mbps.