Elon Musk’s Starlink will soon offer space-based broadband services in India, as the company is likely to get approval from the Indian government ‘in the next few days’ as early as next week, reports have revealed.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) sought a clarification from Starlink on the shareholding pattern, which was subsequently provided, paving the way for the government’s approval, the report added.
“Starlink has responded, and within the next few days or by the end of this month, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) may issue a Letter of Intent (LoI),” ET Telecom quoted a source as saying.
The DoT is preparing a note for the approval of Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and Department of Telecom Secretary Neeraj Mittal. After their consent, the department’s Satellite Communications Wing (SCW) will advance Musk’s SpaceX, which operates Starlink, to work in the country.
Both Vaishnaw and Mittal are currently abroad. While the former is in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum (WEF), the latter is in the US for the PanIIT 2024 event.
After Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Satellite Communications and Bharti Global-backed Utelast OneWeb, Starlink will be the third company to offer space broadband services in India.
