Starlink's services in India set to face delays
Mint had reported in January that the department of promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) had asked for details of its shareholding patterns. The company is learnt to have cited US regulations for not providing the details of complete disclosure of ownership, as required by the commerce ministry, in this case.
But consequently it gave a declaration that it does not have investors from countries with which India shares land borders. It is unclear at the moment as to what kind of pre-requisites will be sought by the ministry of home affairs or security agencies.
Queries to the communications ministry, the nodal body that has to give the final approval to Starlink, and SpaceX, the parent company of Starlink, did not elicit responses as of Sunday evening. The government on its part has amended the space sector foreign direct investment (FDI) rules which now allow up to 49% FDI under the automatic route for satellite launch vehicles and up to 100% FDI under automatic route for manufacturing of satellite sector components and sub-systems.
It has also permitted the allocation of spectrum for satellite broadband through a direct allocation or a non-auction basis, which means that players like Starlink need only pay a fee to get airwaves for its services if it plans to offer them in India or partner with a carrier that already has spectrum. Starlink is the prime competitor to Eutelsat OneWeb’s local subsidiary OneWeb India, backed by the Bharti Group, and Reliance’s Jio Satellite Communications, that has a global JV with partner SES to access latest medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite technology, which can offer gigabit, a fibre-like service, from space.
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