NEW DELH: A local factory for Tesla’s electric cars may be some time away, but Elon Musk’s satellite communications venture Starlink has finally received a go-ahead from govt to launch services in the country.Starlink got approval for three licences – Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS), Commercial Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), and Internet Service Provider (ISP) – which will enable the company launch a slew of satellite-based communication services in India, ranging from consumer to enterprise internet solutions.TOI was the first to report in its June 4 editions that the govt has decided to approve Starlink’s licence applications, which had been pending for the past three-four years, after the company agreed to abide by security and other requisite conditions. Starlink, which becomes the third telecom company to receive the GMPCS licence after Bharti group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio SES, is expected to get trial spectrum over the coming weeks.However, the company is not likely to launch consumer and enterprise services any time soon, since none of the satcom licence holders have been allotted spectrum yet. Recommendations regarding the method of administrative allocation of satcom spectrum, as well as the charges, have been submitted by regulator Trai to govt, but no final decision has been taken on the matter.Starlink will also have to put the ground infrastructure within India to correspond with its satellites and enable communication services. “This will take months to build, and will require approvals from security agencies,” sources said. Starlink operates a constellation of Low-Earth Orbit satellites that are positioned around 550 km above the earth and closer than traditional geostationary satellites.
