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Elon Musk's SpaceX seeks licence for Starlink as India readies for 5G: Report
Experts claim that with Jio, OneWeb, Nelco of the Tata Group, Canada's Telesat, and Amazon exploring the launch of satellite broadband services in the country, India's broadband-from-space services segment could be worth USD 13 billion by 2025.
Several global companies, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX, have now started showing keen interest in Indian space as the country prepares for the launch of 5G services across all states.
SpaceX - the provider of the Starlink broadband-from-space services - has applied to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for a global mobile personal communication by satellite services (GMPCS) licence to launch its internet in India. “SpaceX has applied for the licence, now the government will decide on the license following the due procedure laid by the department,” an official told news agency ANI.
While Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio Infocomm's satellite arm have already secured license, billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX is the third company to apply for the license.
SpaceX opened channels to let users pre-book for Starlink internet last year. However, the company was forced to return pre-book money after the government asked the company to first seek approval.
SpaceX will also need to establish an in-country earth station and deploy its global satellite bandwidth capacity in India. These clearances will have to come from the Indian National Space Promotion & Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), a central regulatory body mandated to attract private capital in the space sector.
Experts claim that with Jio, OneWeb, Nelco of the Tata Group, Canada's Telesat, and Amazon exploring the launch of satellite broadband services in the country, India's broadband-from-space services segment could be worth USD 13 billion by 2025.
With inputs from ANI
