Elon Musk's SpaceX will seek Starlink services permit in India: Report

Earlier this year, the Indian government asked Starlink to refund all pre-orders until it received licenses to operate in the country

Elon Musk's SpaceX is reportedly seeking a permit to launch satellite internet services in India under its Starlink brand. SpaceX is now the third company to apply for global mobile personal communications by satellite services (GMPCS) in India.

"SpaceX will very shortly apply for a GMPCS licence to the Indian authorities to start satellite broadband services in the country," a person in know told The Economic Times.

Under this, SpaceX will aim to launch broadband-from-space services, under Starlink. Earlier, Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio's satellite arm had applied for these permits.

SpaceX will also seek statutory approvals from the government for landing rights and market access, along with approvals to set up local gateways, for which SpaceX will ask for nod from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

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Starlink is, at present, not available in the country owing to pending approvals, and earlier this year, the Centre had even asked the Elon Musk-owned company for refunding all pre-orders until it received licenses to operate in the country.