Elon Musk’s satellite internet division Starlink has registered its business in India. The company’s India unit, Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited (SSCPL) will enable the satellite Internet provider to go ahead with the regulatory procedures in order to operate in the country. The development was announced in a LinkedIn post by Sanjay Bhargava, Starlink India’s country director.
“Pleased to share that SpaceX now has a 100 per cent 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,” Bhargava said in his LinkedIn post. Having a local unit will allow the company to apply for licenses which it needs from the government before it can provide broadband and other satellite-based communication services.
Starlink is one of a growing number of companies launching small satellites as part of a low-Earth orbiting network to provide low-latency broadband internet services around the world, with a particular focus on remote areas that terrestrial internet infrastructure struggles to reach.
In India, Starlink plans to “carry on the business of telecommunication services” including satellite broadband internet services, content storage and streaming, multi-media communication, among others, according to the company filing.
It will also deal in devices such as satellite phones, network equipment, wired and wireless communication devices, as well as data transmission and reception equipment, it said.
Starlink separately said it will focus on “catalyzing rural development” in India through its broadband services, according to a company presentation shared by Bhargava on LinkedIn over the weekend.
Once it is allowed to provide services, Starlink will, in the first phase, give 100 devices for free to schools in Delhi and nearby rural districts. It will then target 12 rural districts across India.
The company aims to have 200,000 Starlink devices in India by December 2022, 80 percent of which will be in rural districts, it said in the presentation. Starlink has already received over 5,000 pre-orders for its devices in India.
SpaceX has been extensively testing Starlink satellite internet since months. Earlier this year, Speedtest Intelligence data indicated that Starlink satellite broadband delivers an average of 97.23Mbps download speeds and 13.89Mbps upload speeds in the US. The wired broadband average speeds in the US are around 115.22Mbps for download and 17.18Mbps for uploads. HughesNet logs an average download speed of 19.73Mbps while ViaSat has download speeds around the 18.13Mbps mark.
In Canada, Starlink was delivering 86.92Mbps download speeds, which is faster than 84.24Mbps speeds for fixed broadband. In upload speeds, fixed broadband at 17.76Mbps is just ahead of Starlink’s 13.63Mbps. In France as well, Starlink with 139.39Mbps download speeds and 23.98Mbps upload speeds is far ahead of 58.17Mbps and 18.16Mbps of fixed broadband. In the UK, fixed broadband clocks in at 50.14Mbps and 14.76Mbps speeds respectively, which Starlink trumps with 108.30Mbps an 15.64Mbps speeds. Musk has promised speeds of up to 300Mbps globally with Starlink internet.
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