Elon Musk’s Starlink Likely To Get Nod For Starting India Operations Soon

Elon Musk’s satellite internet business Starlink is reportedly expected to get approval for launching its space broadband services in India shortly, following a clarification by the company to the department for promotion of industry & internal trade (DPIIT) on the shareholding pattern.

This comes days after the department of telecommunications (DoT) held back the US-based company’s approval for clarification on mandatory ownership disclosure details. 

“Starlink replied to the DPIIT and in the next few days or by the end of this month the DoT may issue a letter of intent (LoI) to the company,” ET reported, citing sources close to the development.

According to the report, the spacetech company has also agreed to not provide services to any of the countries sharing borders with India. 

The DoT is firming up for a green signal from the telecom secretary Neeraj Mittal and union electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw by next week.

Once approved by the two, the Satellite Communications Wing (SCW) would issue approval to SpaeX, the parent company of Starlink. 

The approvals from DPIIT have been sought in alignment with the amendments made by the body in the foreign investment policy in 2020. The amendment mandated prior approval by the government on the declaration of the complete shareholding details especially, in case of investment from countries which share borders with India. 

Earlier, Starlink refused to reveal the shareholding details of the company to the government on the grounds of the US privacy policies. However, it said that there is no shareholder in the company from any of India’s neighboring countries. 

Starlink applied for the DoT licence in 2022 to bring satellite-based broadband to India. It expected to enter India soon after a high-level meeting was reportedly held between the company officials and the government authorities in September 2023.