Our Bureau
Mumbai
Starlink, the satellite internet venture of Elon Musk, is planning to carry out its Spectrum test from the Navi Mumbai terminal. As per the sources of Department of Telecommunications in India, Starlink is planning to set up 20 earth stations or gateways in India across cities like Noida, Chennai, and Navi Mumbai.
Out of the 20 stations, three sites are currently under construction. It was also reported that the gateway infrastructure will require at least 50,000 terminals and these user terminals will be imported from the United States of America from regions of Texas, LA, and Seattle.
The Elon Musk-owned company had received the provisional spectrum or test spectrum last month on August 12th. The company had received a trial spectrum to construct the company’s ground infrastructure and to carry out security compliance tests in the country. Starlink also holds a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence and authorisations from IN-SPACe to operate its satellites in India.
However, the Department of Telecommunications and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India have not reached a consensus yet on several key regulatory issues majorly revolving around the pricing of the spectrum.
A few months ago, in July, the Union Telecom Minister of India, Jyotiraditya Scindia had announced that Elon Musk’s Starlink had received the licence and will be launching their satellite service in India. Scindia had also announced that the framework for spectrum allocation will also be rolled out soon, smoothly.
“Starlink has been granted a Unified License to launch satellite internet services in India. Frameworks for spectrum allocation and gateway establishment are ready, ensuring smooth rollout,” Scindia announced.
