Elon Musk’s Starlink has received a licence to launch commercial operations in India from the telecoms ministry, two sources told Reuters on Friday, clearing a major hurdle for the satellite provider that has long wanted to enter the South Asian country.
The approval is good news for Musk, whose public spat with President Donald Trump threatens $22 billion of SpaceX’s contracts and space programmes with the U.S. government.
Starlink is the third company to get a licence from India’s Department of Telecommunications, which has approved similar applications by Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Reliance Jio to provide services in the country.
Starlink and the Department of Telecommunications did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sources declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Musk met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit in February to the United States, where the two discussed Starlink‘s launch plans and India’s concerns over meeting certain security conditions.
Starlink has been waiting since 2022 for licences to operate commercially in India, and although it has cleared a major hurdle, it is a long way from launching commercial services.
It still needs a separate licence from India’s space regulator, which Starlink is close to securing, said a third source with direct knowledge of the process without giving details.
Starlink will then need to secure spectrum from the government, set up ground infrastructure and also demonstrate, through testing and trials, that it meets the security rules it has signed up for, one of the two sources said.
“This will take a couple of months at least and will be a rigorous process,” said the person, adding that it can only begin selling its equipment and services to customers once it gets an all clear from Indian security officials.
Indian telecom providers Jio and Bharti Airtel, in a surprise move in March, announced a partnership with Musk to stock Starlink equipment in their retail stores, but they will still compete on offering broadband services.
Musk and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio clashed for months over how India should grant spectrum for satellite services. India’s government sided with Musk that spectrum should be assigned and not auctioned.
India’s telecom regulator in May proposed satellite service providers pay 4% of their annual revenue to the government for offering services, which domestic players have said is unjustifiably low and will hurt their businesses.
Deloitte predicts India’s satellite broadband service market will be worth $1.9 billion by 2030, making it lucrative for players like Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper, which is still awaiting a licence.
Reuters
