Elon Musk’s Starlink has been approved by the state that is expected in India, opening the door to entering the world’s second largest internet market after China.
On Wednesday, India’s telecommunications agency nodded to Starlink and began working towards compliance in South Asian countries, a senior official confirmed to TechCrunch.
Starlink must submit documentation to indicate that it complies with the licensing requirements. Earlier this week, New Delhi published the rules for global mobile communications (PDF) by Satellite (GMPCS) operators, setting clear security guidelines for companies such as Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper.
Some of these rules, like ground network operators, will help to the content and intercept of the Indian government’s censorship and restrict user terminal access “through gateways located outside of geofenced coverage areas and/or outside of India.” Satellite companies need to follow them to operate domestically.
SpaceX also requires clearance from India’s National Space Promotion and Recognition Centre (in space), India’s space regulator, to enable satellite-based communication services.
The official deployment of Starlink connectivity in India takes 6-9 months for each person familiar with the issue.
Nevertheless, the latest move is a welcome gesture from the Indian government to masks. He has been trying to launch Starlink nationwide for quite some time to expand its user base. India’s population is over 1.4 billion, but only about 950 million internet subscribers creates an appetizing market for Starlink or other companies selling internet connections via a different approach.
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The approval comes about two months after India’s Telcos Airtel and Reliance Jio announced their partnership with SpaceX and announced Starlink’s high-speed internet service domestically. However, because Starlink required standalone regulatory approval, the deployment plan was not easy through these partnerships.
In 2022, SpaceX was responsibly responsibly for launching the Starlink service in India without obtaining the required license. The company had to refund pre-orders for the equipment after the government called it for “reservation/rendering of satellite internet services” before obtaining the required license.
However, thanks to Musk’s close relationship with Trump, the environment is now changing for Starlink. Starlink is also reportedly used as a leverage tool more than countries preparing for trade talks with the US.
Last month, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal met with Starlink executives, including Parnil Urdhwareshe, who is at the forefront of India, in his office in New Delhi. This recently announced plans to visit India this year, two months after the meeting between U.S. Musk Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Musk. In addition to EV Carmaker’s launch of Starlink, EV Carmaker also focuses on the world’s most populous countries, so the visit could be an opportunity for billionaires to oversee the progress of Tesla’s Indian operations.
That being said, Starlink could face local and international competition in the domestic satellite internet space. This is because OneWeb, which works with Airtel, has already been approved by Space, and Jio Spacefiber, a joint venture between Reliance Jio and SES, has been approved by both DOT and Inspace. Amazon’s Kuiper wants to get approval to launch the service when it’s ready.
The Indian government has also not yet shared details about the spectrum assigned to satellite internet companies. In late 2023, the government allowed the spectrum allocation of satellite services through specific fees by introducing a new communications bill. However, the exact requirements and fees to be charged have not been announced yet.
SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.