According to its country head, Starlink, the satellite internet business of billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, will apply for a commercial license in India early next year to deliver broadband and other services.
In a LinkedIn post, Sanjay Bhargava, Starlink Country Director, India at SpaceX, said, “We hope to have applied for a commercial license on or before 31st January 2022 (unless we face some big hurdle).”
According to a presentation provided by Bhargava, if the company can roll out its services by April, it hopes to have 200,000 Starlink devices in India by December 2022. According to the business, 80 percent of these gadgets would be used in rural areas.
Starlink is one of a rising number of firms that are launching small satellites as part of a low-Earth orbit network to deliver low-latency broadband internet services around the world, with a focus on distant locations where terrestrial internet infrastructure lags.
Amazon.com’s (AMZN.O) Kuiper and OneWeb, which is co-owned by the British government and India’s Bharti Enterprises, are among its competitors.
While Starlink has received over 5,000 pre-orders for its devices in India, no services have yet been launched.
Despite this, the Indian government warned customers last week not to subscribe to Starlink since it does not have a license to operate in the nation. It also issued a warning to the company, instructing it to stop collecting bookings and providing services.
Starlink has stopped taking pre-orders for its devices, according to its website, citing “pending regulatory approval”.
Last month the company registered a local unit, Starlink Satellite Communications Private Ltd, paving the way for it to begin doing business in the country
