Elon Musk’s Starlink gets approval from Telecom Ministry for satellite communication in India
The government was concerned regarding the ownership of the company and wanted to confirm that no stakeholder belongs to the nation sharing boundaries with India
Telecom Ministry approved Elon Musk satellite communication
Elon Musk owned satellite communication venture finally got an approval by Telecom ministry in India after a three year long negotiations. This came few days before Musk’s meeting with Prime minister Narendra Modi. The company is one step away from getting license by Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS).
According to some sources, the approval awaits a final reviewing by the home ministry on some security matters and the communication minister Ashwini Vaishnav will have the final say.
The government was concerned regarding the ownership of the company, they wanted to confirm that no stakeholder belongs to the nation sharing boundaries with India. Now that the declaration of the ownership is submitted the company got the approval from the Telecom ministry.
A source told TOI that, “The commercial part has been examined on issues, such as, foreign investment and net worth. The essential examination shows that it (Starlink’s application) is in line with the (official) guidelines. Thus, it has been approved.”
Further adding to it the source said, “The technical requirements have been examined as per the licence conditions,” The source also mentioned about the declaration of ownership by saying “The ownership issue had been a serious one and govt wanted to make sure that the company has no stakeholder from a country that shares land border with India. That would’ve raised a red flag. The matter is sorted now after the declaration,”
In a move to protect the privacy of users the Telecom Ministry has obligated the company that the KYC details and data of the customers will remain inside the Indian borders. The ministry have imposed certain conditions on the venture over the National Security. “Also, the data beams from satellites should only land in India and not end up on foreign shores due to movement of satellites,” to this the company assured that it has a solution to tackle this matter, the source said.
Previously “One Web” have entered the Indian telecom market collaborating with Bharti Airtel’s Sunil Mittal and “Luxemburg based SES” partnered with Ambani’s jio to generate a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) license.
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