As India prepares to deliver 5G services in every city, global companies are exhibiting interest in the country’s space-related enterprises.
SpaceX, which is controlled by Elon Musk, has applied to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for a global mobile personal communication via satellite services (GMPCS) licence in order to establish broadband-from-space services in India under the Starlink brand.
SpaceX applied for the licence, and now the government will decide on it in accordance with the department’s procedures, according to an official with knowledge of the situation.
According to officials, worldwide firms are increasingly exhibiting interest in Indian space, with SpaceX being one of them. SpaceX is the third business to apply for the licence, following Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio Infocomm’s satellite arm.
SpaceX is the world’s premier launch service provider and the first commercial corporation to deliver humans to and from the International Space Station (ISS). It is the only corporation that has successfully completed all civilian crew trips to orbit.
With the Starlink constellation, SpaceX enables global internet connectivity. According to officials, after receiving the licence, SpaceX must obtain approval from the Department of Space and then obtain spectrum for offering services.
In addition, SpaceX will need to set up an in-country earth station and deploy its global satellite bandwidth capacity in India. These approvals must be granted by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), a federal regulatory agency tasked with attracting private capital in the space sector.
Following global companies’ interest in Indian space, competition is heating up in India’s relatively nascent broadband-from-space services segment, which could be worth USD 13 billion by 2025, with Jio, OneWeb, Tata Group’s Nelco, Canada’s Telesat, and Amazon all exploring the launch of satellite broadband services in India.
(source : ANI)
