As per industry sources, Starlink is planning to apply for a commercial permit by January 2022.
Starlink aims to install 200,000 devices in India by December 2022, of which, it hopes to install 80 per cent of devices in rural areas. To provide broadband connections, India will require collaboration across stakeholders, service providers, and technologies, says Starlink country head.
Earlier, the Indian government had barred Starlink broadband from seeking pre-bookings for its internet from space services since it did not have licence for the same. To this end, the communications ministry had issued a terse directive and a public advisory abstaining Indian citizens from placing orders.
A week prior to the government order, the company had been accepting pre-orders for the beta version of the service for a fully refundable deposit of $99 (around Rs 7,400). The pre-orders from India had already crossed 5,000. The company had been targeting satellite broadband coverage in India in 2022.
Starlink would work with rural constituencies who are keen to have 100 per cent broadband. The company plans to provide the services by terrestrial broadband but the areas that are difficult to reach will be handled by Satcom providers like Starlink.
