Starlink applies to In-Space; seeks to get clearance for setting up Earth stations: Report
Economic Times has reported. The Indian Space Policy 2023 was approved by a Cabinet Committee helmed by PM Modi. The policy delineates responsibility to ISRO, New Space India Limited (NSIL, a space sector PSU), and IN-SPACe.
It is a single-window, independent, nodal agency that functions as an autonomous agency in the Department of Space (DOS) and is formed following the Space sector reforms to enable and facilitate the participation of private players. Last year, SpaceX had applied to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for a global mobile personal communication by satellite services (GMPCS) licence to launch broadband-from-space services in India under its Starlink brand.
Speaking on this a government official told ET, "Starlink have applied to IN-Space, further adding he said that GMPCS application is under process. Giving further update on Starlink's GMPCS, officials aware of the matter also added that security check from ministry of home affairs is underway and is likely to be granted in a couple of months.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is the third company to apply for the licence as Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio Infocomm's satellite arm have already secured a GMPCS licence. Following a meeting with PM Modi in the US last month, Musk said he was keen to launch Starlink in India which "can be incredibly helpful" in remote villages that have no internet or lack high-speed services.
Tesla CEO also added that he had a "very good" conversation with PM Modi and said that the electric vehicles maker will try to be in India "as soon as humanly possible", Reuters reported. Starlink is lobbying India to not auction the spectrum but just assign licences in line with a global trend, saying it is a natural resource
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