SpaceX, the company of the world's richest businessman Elon Musk, has sought a license to provide satellite-based broadband service in India. Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) license is required for these services in India.
It is provided by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT). Musk's company provides these services to SpaceX under the Starlink brand. ET has published a report regarding this. Starlink is the third company to apply for the GMPCS license.
Earlier Airtel-backed OneWeb and Jio's satellite arm JioSpace Technology applied for this. Starlink's entry within India's space internet segment will give tough competition to Airtel, Jio and Amazon.
Starlink had plans to launch its services in India last year and started taking pre-bookings around March 2021. The company had sought approval from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to deliver broadband services.
However, in November 2021, DoT intervened saying that Starlink would have to obtain all necessary licenses to operate in India.
DoT also ordered Indian users to refund the pre-booking amount of $99 (INR 7,500 per previous year's exchange rates). As of 1 December 2021, Starlink had closed pre-bookings, refunding all users.
Apart from the GMPCS license, many other permissions are also required to provide satellite-based broadband service in India. Starlink will have to get approval from the Department of Space to provide its service and spectrum for satellite broadband.
Since the company will also need ground-based satellite gateways in India, it will also need approval from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe). According to a report by EY-ISpA, by 2025, this market can be $ 13 billion.
Starlink has the largest space broadband constellation in the world, with 3,451 satellite launches. More than 2,700 of these satellites are currently in operation. The company plans to launch 12,000 satellites.
On the other hand, Airtel has the most developed satellite constellation in terms of percentage deployed and coverage. Akash Ambani-led Jio has joined hands with global satellite broadband provider SES for satellite internet.
Starlink has recently been in the news for its use in war-torn Ukraine, where its connectivity is being used. Recently, Elon Musk tweeted that SpaceX cannot fund Starlink's operations indefinitely.
Musk asked the US government to fund the continuation of Internet service in Ukraine. According to Musk, there are currently 25,300 terminals in Ukraine, of which only 10,630 are paying for the service. The war between Russia and Ukraine has been going on since February.
Satellites enable beam internet coverage from any part of the earth. The satellite's network gives users high-speed, low-latency internet coverage. Latency refers to the time it takes to transfer data from one point to another.
The Starlink kit consists of a Starlink dish, a Wi-Fi router, power supply cables, and a mounting tripod. Dish has to be kept under the open sky for high-speed internet. Starlink's app is available on iOS and Android and does everything from setup to monitoring.
