Starlink Internet Services, a division of the SpaceX aerospace company, plans to apply for the appropriate licences to sell satellite-based internet commercially in India. This happened after last week’s announcement from India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that the company had no right to sell broadband connections in the country as it had not yet been licensed to do so.
In fact the company had already reported over 5,000 pre-orders from users in India, something that had clearly angered the DoT. Booking stopped soon after the DoT statement – as we reported at the time.
The company intends to apply for the mandatory approvals on or before January 31, 2022, according to a LinkedIn post from Starlink’s India director Sanjay Bhargava.
If it is permitted to operate in India by April 2022, the company aims to have over 200,000 terminals available before the end of next year.
And India will be far from alone. Judging from plans made public elsewhere in the world, Starlink is expecting quite a bit of business next year.
One of the most recent announcements comes from Eastern Europe, where SpaceX registered Starlink Lithuania in early June. According to local press reports Starlink Lithuania is launching satellite internet services in the country early next year.
This will apparently be the easternmost country above which SpaceX plans to offer its services. Starlink is preparing 20 satellites to fly over Lithuania, providing an internet speed of at least 100 Mbps.
