Starlink may still take time to kick off satellite services in India

Starlink, which had applied for the global mobile personal communication (GMPCS) license in November 2022, still has not received it to kick off its commercial services in India. GMPCS is the basic prerequisite in India to start off services.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to ask the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for its recommendation on the administrative price of spectrum, which satellite communication players need for providing mobile broadband services.

It is reported that the licence application of Starlink was pending because of security issues, now everything is ironed out and the application is at the final stage for approval.

Now, the licence can be granted in the next week or so.

“There was no delay in granting the licence, but due diligence,” said a DoT official. Elon Musk will visit India this month to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he may announce a Tesla factory in the country. It is believed that at the same time, the government may also announce granting licences to Startlink to start its satellite broadband services in the country.

Usually, the license is granted for a period of 20 years. As per India’s Space Policy 2023, private low-earth orbit (LEO) and medium-earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellation operators will launch fast broadband from space services in the country. As per an EY-ISpA report, India’s space economy is set to expand to $13 billion by 2025, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 6% from nearly $9.6 billion in 2020.