starlink: Elon Musk-backed Starlink’s India head Sanjay Bhargava quits: This is what he wrote – Times of India

The head of billionaire Elon Musk-backed Starlink’s India operation, Sanjay Bhargava, has resigned. Bhargava made the announcement in a post on professional networking website LinkedIn. “I have stepped down as Country Director and Chairman of the Board of Starlink India for personal reasons. My last working day was December 31, 2021. I will have no comments for individuals and media so please respect my privacy,” Bhargava said in a LinkedIn post.
Starlink is a division of Musk’s SpaceX aerospace company. Bhargava’s resignation comes just days after Starlink was asked by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to stop taking bookings in India as it didn’t have licence to operate in the country. The government also advised people against subscribing to Starlink.
Last month in a post on LinkedIn Bhargava wrote that Starlink is planning to apply for a commercial licence in India by the end of January. He also shared a presentation that showed with an April roll out it targeted 200,000 devices in India by December 2022.
And just recently, the DoT asked Starlink to refund money to all customers who pre-booked for the services until it receives licences to operate in the country. “Unfortunately, the timeline for receiving licences to operate is currently unknown, and there are several issues that must be resolved with the licensing framework to allow us to operate Starlink in India,” the company said in an email to customers. “The Starlink team is looking forward to making Starlink available in India as soon as possible,” it added.