Elon Musk’s Starlink, the satellite Internet division of SpaceX has finally got its business registered in India on Monday. The company’s documents have been filed with the government and it is now working on rolling out the internet services in the country soon.
“Pleased to share that SpaceX now has a 100% owned subsidiary in India. The name is SSCPL-Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited and the incorporation date is Nov 1, 2021. We can now start applying for licenses, open bank accounts, etc,” said Sanjay Bhargava via a LinkedIn post.
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What is Starlink?
Starlink is one of the fastest-growing companies launching small satellites as part of a Low-Earth Orbiting (LEO) network to provide low-latency broadband internet services around the world, with a special focus on remote areas where other internet providers fail to reach. Competitors of Starlink include Amazon’s Kuiper and OneWeb (which is co-owned by the British government and India’s Bharti Enterprises).
Starlink in India
Starlink plans to carry on the business of telecommunication services including satellite broadband internet services, content storage, and streaming, multimedia communication, among others, according to the company filing seen by Reuters. Starlink said it will focus on catalyzing rural development through its broadband services.
Starlink’s Plans in India
Once Starlink gets the necessary permissions, it will start giving 100 devices for free to schools in Delhi and nearby rural districts.
It will then target 12 rural districts across India. The company hopes to deploy around 2 lakh Starlink devices in India by December 2022, which is 80% of which will be run in rural districts.
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Despite facing many regulatory hurdles in the past, Starlink’s website for pre-orders, which will be completely refundable, is still functioning for Indian users. Starlink says that it has received over 5000 pre-orders for devices in India. Starlink’s representatives are planning to work with NITI Aayog to identify the 12 rural districts, three from each region including the West, East, North, and South to offer internet services. Click here to pre-order your connection.
Starlink’s broadband network has been found to have an internet speed ranging between 50 Mbps to Mbps. The network will help reduce latency, i.e., the amount of time data takes in going from one point to another. Reduced latency will improve the quality of video calling and the speed of online gaming.
