India may soon get Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellite Services as SpaceX aims to seek permits from the govt.- Technology News, Firstpost

FP StaffOct 13, 2022 13:58:17 IST

Back in September this year, during one his casual tweeting sessions, Elon Musk was asked if he ever planned to launch SpaceX’s Starlink Satellite Services in India. His response back then was that he was trying to figure out the regulatory and approval processes that he would have to comply with, in order to launch the service in the country. Now, it seems that Musk and his team are all set to start seeking the necessary permits to launch their Starlink Satellite Services in India.

For those who are unaware of what exactly SpaceX’s Starlink Satellite Services are, they are basically an internet service that was started by SpaceX. Starlink uses a constellation of satellites to provide Internet connectivity with lower latency. 

One benefit of Starlink or any satellite-based ISP is that for any reason if fibre or ADSL-based services get disrupted, satellite-based ISP rarely get disrupted. Moreover, satellite-based ISPs can be used to bring high-speed internet connectivity to areas where it is extremely difficult to lay fibre-optic or ADSL lines. Satellite internet service providers need just a small, portable receiver which has to be set up on the ground to access the high-speed internet.

That is why, after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Ukrainian government requested Musk to help them out with internet connectivity. Musk’s deployment of Starlink’s services in Ukraine immediately after Russia’s invasion was crucial for the Ukrainians in mounting a defence. 

The first two satellites were launched in February 2018. As of now, the service is available in 14 locations including Australia, Chile, the UK, and the US, among several others countries.

As per latest report, Musk’s SpaceX team is seeking the necessary permits from the Indian government to launch satellite internet services in the country. SpaceX is the third company that applied for the permit for satellite internet services.

Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Jio’s satellite service arm have already applied for a permit from the Department of Telecommunications. SpaceX is soon going to apply for a Global Mobile Personal Communications By Satellite or GMPCS services licence as well. The company is also likely to apply for permission for local gateways from the Department of Telecommunications.