Our Bureau
New Delhi
Elon Musk’s Starlink has finally been cleared to offer satellite-based internet in India as they have passed the final regulatory test. The Indian National Space Promotion & Authorization Centre, or IN-SPACe has given out authorization to the company to establish its Gen 1 constellation capacity over India.
IN-SPACe, under the space department, oversees space activities in the country, particularly by private companies. They have given Starlink the authorization for the forthcoming 5 years starting on 7th July 2025 till 7 July 2030. An official reported, “Starlink was given the approval after following the necessary process and performing all the checks.”
As per the NewSpace Index, Starlink has a total of 6750 satellites out of which over 4,000 are first-generation satellites. Now, Starlink has joined the Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio-SES joint venture to get all the approval to launch the satellite internet services in India.
There have also been reports suggesting that Luxembourg-based SES who are partners with Jio has also secured the authorisation by IN-SPACe for a total of 24 satellites over India. Along with them Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite internet service, has also been trying to get the approval of the government to offer satellite-based internet in the country.
Elon Musk’s Starlink will still have to wait for the commercial launch of their company for now. The Government of India still hasn’t provided a proper spectrum to the company and till that gets allocated the company will have to wait.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has advised the central government against the auction for these satellite internet service and has rather told them to go for administrative allocation of spectrum. They have stated that either the satcom companies would have to pay annual spectrum charges of 4% of their Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) or Rs. 3,500 per MHz, whichever is higher.
