According to industry sources, SpaceX, through its satellite internet arm Starlink, has applied for licence to launch broadband-from-space services in India. To this end, SpaceX has reportedly reached out to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for obtaining a global mobile personal communication by satellite services (GMPCS).
With this SpaceX becomes the third company to seek such a permit. DoT has already granted GMPCS licences to Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio’s satellite arm, Jio Satellite Communications Limited (JSCL).
However, after obtaining licence, the company needs to get approval from the Department of Space and thereafter the spectrum gets allocated for offering services. Besides, SpaceX will also need to establish in-country earth stations (satellite gateways) and deploy its global satellite bandwidth capacity in India. These clearances will have to come from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), a central regulatory body mandated to attract private capital in the space sector.
