Elon Musk Will Apply For Satellite Internet License On This Date; India Launch Details Revealed

SpaceX, which plans to launch broadband services in India next year, has now announced that it will apply for a commercial permit by January 31, 2022, latest. 

Starlink broadband company has already crossed 90,000 subscribers across the globe after the addition of 20,000 subscribers in July.  As per the Speedtest Intelligence numbers, Starlink satellite broadband delivers an average of 97.23Mbps download speeds and 13.89Mbps upload speeds.

Starlink To Apply For A Commercial Permit By January 31

In August, we had reported to you that if you are looking to get Starlink broadband connection, you can reserve the connection for $99, which is around Rs 7,300. 

The Indian government barred the company from taking pre-bookings, as they dont have a license yet. Due to this, the company has withdrawn the offer for pree-booking the satellite internet services in India.

The India head of Starlink, Sanjay Bhargava, said that they hope to apply for a commercial license on or before January 31, 2022 “unless we hit some major roadblock.”

One week ago, the communications ministry had issued a statement which said that Musk’s broadband from-space venture was not a licensee in India. A public advisory had also been announced asking Indian citizens not to subscribe to Starlink’s upcoming satellite internet service.

Bhargava said, “A 100% Broadband India will require collaboration across stakeholders, service providers, and technologies, and we encourage everyone to think about their use cases and develop connectivity plans for districts as well as private use.”

Starlink Already Applied For Permit To Start Pilot Services

Starlink has reportedly applied for a permit to start pilot services with a limited set of users. However, it will require a GMPCS (global mobile personal communication by satellite) licence for a commercial launch.

An industry body representing rival Bharti-backed OneWeb, Amazon, Hughes, Google, Microsoft and Facebook had written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and asked them to stop SpaceX from pre-selling the beta version of its service in India. The association stated that SpaceX did not have a valid license or the Government’s authorization to offer its services in the country.

Additionally, Bharti-backed OneWeb, Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos-founded Amazon, and the Tata-Telesat are prepping to enter India’s nascent broadband-from-space segment. They will be leveraging on their respective global low–earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations.