Elon Musk's Starlink has secured a crucial licence from India's telecoms ministry. This approval removes a significant obstacle. It brings Starlink closer to launching commercial services in India. Starlink joins OneWeb and Reliance Jio. These companies have already received similar approvals. They are set to provide services across the nation.
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Starlink has become the latest entrant to get a satcom licence in India, becoming the third player after Eutelsat-OneWeb and Jio-SES combine to offer commercial services in India.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) permit to the Elon Musk-owned company and trial spectrum too will be issued to it in coming days.
Once the spectrum is allocated, the company has to demonstrate all the compliances to the government, including the security conditions.
The US major, however, needs to get the approval from space regulator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe). The company had already provided all the details needed to get this clearance, but the nod is yet to be given.
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The launch of commercial services depends on the company successfully demonstrating the compliance of security conditions.
The DoT is finalising the pricing and rules for satcom spectrum allocation after receiving recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
The regulator had recommended administrative allocation of satcom spectrum for a fee pegged at 4% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to be assigned for five years.
Satcom companies offering services in urban areas would have to shell out Rs 500 per subscriber annually, but nothing for rural users.
However, there won’t be any upfront charge or allocation price for satellite spectrum.
The telcos have termed the prices as unjustifiably low but the calls for a reconsideration have been rejected by the regulator.
Reuters
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