Elon Musk's Starlink applies for opening earth stations in India

Elon Musk's Starlink, part of his space venture SpaceX has applied to the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) for clearances to set earth stations in India, as per media reports.  Elon Musk had already proposed plans to initiate the operations of Starlink in India when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US last month. 

Starlink's plan for operations in India

The company has started the initiation of working on formalities for necessary permissions and approvals. The company in the past had applied for getting a global mobile personal communication by satellite services (GMPCS) license from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Reports noted that security check by the Ministry of Home Affairs is underway for the license, which is expected to be issued within months.

Once the company gets approvals, it will have to wait for spectrum allocation from telecom department. At present, its major rival, that provide broadband internet satellite services, OneWeb has already secured all the needed permissions except spectrum. In addition to this, Reliance Jio has also introduced a satellite arm and has received the GMPCS license from the DoT.

Starlink, part of Musk's space venture SpaceX, had registered its business in India last year under the leadership of Sanjay Bhargava, former India head of Starlink. The top executive stepped down after the government ordered SpaceX to stop accepting orders for internet services as it did not have the license to operate in the South Asian market.

The entry of private players to the market has been facilitated by the recent 'India Space Policy 2023' approved by the cabinet. As per the policy, the government can allow private enterprises to carry out end-to-end activities that include launching satellites and rockets and operating earth stations.

The policy also aims at encouraging private players like Amazon's Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic to set up operations in India. The policy however limits the private entities for their involvement in the Government's space program.

Expected possibility with Starlink in India

Republic had reported earlier that Starlink in India can revolutionise the entire Internet ecosystem in India. It can offer an average download speed of approximately 130 Mbps and can go up to 300 Mbps. 

India at present suffers from high latency in many areas despite having major infrastructural developments in terms of 5G and research in 6G. A latency in simple words means delay, a low latency service means no delay and enhances user experience, whereas a higher latency means the opposite.

Starlink at present operates in Canada, US, Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Brazil, France, Spain, Germany and Australia among others According to the company, the majority of countries in Africa, Asia and South America are on the country's waitlist and talk with the respective governments is going on. 

Starlink offers three different packages in the US. Starlink internet costs $110 per month with a $599 one-time equipment fee. Starlink RV internet costs $135 per month with an up-front $599 equipment fee. Starlink Business costs $500 per month with a $2,500 one-time equipment fee.