Starlink to get licence to operate in India soon: Jyotiraditya Scindia
Elon Musk's satellite internet service,
Starlink
, is close to receiving official approval to operate in India, Union minister of communications
Jyotiraditya Scindia
said in a recent interview.
The
Department of Telecommunications
(DoT) has already issued a Letter of Intent (LOI) to Starlink, Scindia told The Print. The company now needs to secure final approval from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (
IN-SPACe
).
The communications minister explained that before starting commercial operations, all licence holders, including Starlink, must obtain clearance from IN-SPACe.
'At present,
OneWeb
and
Reliance
are the two companies that hold licences for satellite-based internet services,' Scindia said. 'Starlink is also nearing the end of the licensing process. With the LoI already in place, I expect the company to be granted its licence shortly.'
In preparation for their service rollout, OneWeb and
Reliance
have received limited spectrum allocations for trial runs. Starlink is expected to undergo similar testing once it receives the necessary approvals.
Following this phase, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will draw up the regulatory framework for how satellite spectrum will be distributed for commercial use, Scindia noted.
Bezos' Project Kuiper eyes India entry
Amazon-backed Project Kuiper, like Starlink, is
aiming to establish
a significant
satellite communication
(
satcom
) presence in India, people in the know told ET. The company plans to set up 10 satellite gateways and two points of presence (PoPs), in Mumbai and Chennai, to support its satellite internet services.
Kuiper officials have also written to the DoT, requesting the expedited issuance of a Letter of Intent (LoI) for a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) permit—an essential regulatory approval to begin operations in India. The letter was written before the LoI was issued to Starlink in early May.
TRAI sets satellite comms spectrum charges
Last month, the telecom regulator
recommended
that satellite communication companies like Starlink pay 4% of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) as spectrum charges—higher than what these firms had sought.
For urban users, operators would also need to pay an additional Rs 500 per subscriber annually, while no such levy would apply in rural areas. An 8% licence fee on AGR would also be applicable to satcom players.
TRAI supported subsidies for satcom user terminals in underserved rural and remote regions, where hardware costs typically range from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000, noting that high costs could hinder adoption.
Though TRAI chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti said satellite services won't disrupt terrestrial telecom providers, industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has
raised concerns
with the DoT, arguing that "incorrect assumptions" have resulted in unfairly low spectrum charges for satellite services compared to terrestrial networks.
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