Elon Musk to soon launch Starlink Internet in India, shock to Mukesh Ambani!

Kathmandu. Elon Musk’s satellite internet technology company Starlink will soon be able to provide services in India. Indian Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that Starlink will soon be allowed to operate the service as it is in the process of fulfilling all the necessary regulations of the government.

According to the Telecom Minister, the main condition set by the government is security. He mentioned that the license application process has moved forward after Starlink is ready to assimilate this.Earlier, Money Control had published a report stating that Starlink representatives participated in a meeting with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). During the discussion, Starlink representatives agreed to meet the government’s conditions.

According to the report, Starlink has agreed to meet the data localization and security standards of the Indian government. Due to this, Elon Musk’s company Starlink is expected to start its satellite internet service in India soon.Data localization means that Starlink will have to store the information of Indian customers within India. And, if necessary, the company will have to provide this information to the Indian government agencies.

According to a report by India Today, it is mandatory to follow these rules to start satellite internet services in India. Only after this, the Indian government grants a ‘Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite’ (GMPCS) license to a company.This license is required to start satellite internet services in India. Only after obtaining the license, a company gets spectrum for testing. Then it can start initial satellite internet services.

Why has Starlink become a headache for Indian telecom companies?
Starlink is a satellite internet service provided by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. Usually, internet service providers provide internet services by laying underground cables or using mobile towers. However, Starlink uses a network of satellites orbiting the Earth to provide internet services to its customers.

Starlink’s main objective is to provide high-speed internet service in rural areas where broadband internet service is not available and in places where it is difficult to build towers.Starlink’s internet service does not work like normal broadband. It does not have to depend on millions of kilometers of long cables. Starlink provides internet service directly from space. This makes high-speed internet service easily accessible even in remote areas.

However, some other companies have also provided satellite internet services. But the companies providing these services use satellites that are very far from Earth. This slows down the internet speed. And, it is difficult to get high-speed internet due to delays in data transmission.Starlink’s satellites are very close to Earth. This allows Starlink to provide high-speed internet service to users. Another feature of this is that it can provide high-speed internet even on flying aircraft.

Broadband companies use fiber optic cables to send data. This makes it easy to provide internet service in cities and villages using such cables. However, it is difficult and expensive to lay cables in remote and mountainous areas. Starlink’s service is useful in such places.
Starlink had applied for a license in India in October 2022. According to India Today, Elon Musk’s company is working with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) for further approval.

In-Space is a regulatory body. Any private company in India has to take permission from this organization if it wants to start a space-related project.According to the news, some other information has been sought for licensing Starlink and Amazon’s satellite internet project ‘Kuiper’. According to Pawan Kumar Goenka, chairman of In-Space, both the companies are in the process of answering the questions raised by the space regulator.

Starlink is facing some difficulties in launching satellite internet services in India. The main reason for this is the lack of a clear policy on pricing and spectrum by the government. However, the government is expected to issue guidelines in this regard soon.In an interview with news agency PTI, Telecom Minister Scindia said that the government is planning to directly allocate spectrum for satellite broadband services without auctioning it. He said that since any country can adopt the process of directly allocating satellite spectrum as per the guidelines of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) without auctioning it, they are going to do that.

India had included satellite spectrum in Schedule 1 of its Telecom Act of 2023. For this, the government needs spectrum allocation (direct distribution process).The Telecom Minister has informed that the price of spectrum will be determined by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

According to Business Today, the Indian government has decided to allocate directly instead of auctioning spectrum as per the criteria set by the ITU. However, this decision has been analyzed as a big blow to India’s major telecom companies Jio and Airtel, led by Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal. These companies had earlier written to the Indian telecom regulator demanding an auction of satellite spectrum.

GeoalThe government has emphasized that spectrum should be distributed through auction. Airtel’s Sunil Mittal has also expressed support for Jio’s demand. They argue that they have spent a lot to get the spectrum.

In such a situation, if companies like Starlink or Amazon’s Kuiper start their services in India, local companies are sure to get a big shock. The Indian government’s new spectrum allocation strategy will make it easier for international companies like Starlink to start satellite internet services in India. Because the company does not have to spend as much as the broadband companies did.