Indian government warns locals not to use Starlink's internet services
(2021/11/29)
- Reference: 1638163511
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/11/29/india_warns_starlink/
- Source link:
The government of India has advised locals not to subscribe to SpaceX’s Starlink Internet service, revealing that it does not have a valid license to operate on the subcontinent.
Starlink registered its business in India on November 1, actively engaged in advertising and even pre-sold subscriptions. But it has not secured a license to operate, prompting India's Department of Telecommunications to issue a warning tweet.
The same is also evident from the website of Starlink ( [1]https://t.co/xscnDS4Cnn ) wherein satellite based internet services can be booked by users in Indian territory.
For rendering satellite based services in India, requisite license(s) from [2]#DOT are required. — DoT India (@DoT_India) [3]November 26, 2021
A press release [4]issued the same day offered more of the same, scalding Starlink by declaring "the Government has asked the company to comply with the Indian regulatory framework for rendering the satellite-based communication services and refrain from booking/rendering the satellite internet services in India with immediate effect."
The satellite internet company had been accepting preorders for a refundable deposit of ₹7,400 ($99).
Starlink's head of India, Sanjay Bhargava, recently said the company has signed over 5,000 customers. The outfit is outwardly confident that it can operate in India, as it is currently hiring [5]"two rockstars" to join Bhargava and beef up its Indian operations, which will run under a wholly owned subsidiary called Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited (SSCPL). Three weeks ago, Bhargava [6]commented that SSCPL could "now start applying for licenses, open bank accounts etc."
[7]
Bhargava joined Starlink two months ago and wasted no time encouraging people to preorder and sign up for the service. "If you want to get Starlink quickly after we start shipping to India preorder your Starlink now. I preordered by just typing 'How to Preorder Starlink' in Google," he [8]said in a LinkedIn post.
[9]
"Our stretch target is to have 200,000 terminals active in India in December 2022. Actual numbers maybe much lower than that or even zero if we do not get government approval but it is very unlikely that we will exceed 200,000," conceded Bhargava.
[10]Satellite of love: Space broadband outfit Viasat acquires rival Inmarsat
[11]Amazon says Elon Musk's wicked, wicked ways mean SpaceX's Starlink 2.0 should not be allowed to fly
[12]In the '80s, satellite comms showed promise – soon it'll be a viable means to punt internet services at anyone anywhere
India is already home to [13]800 million broadband connections – a number that grew by 15 million between June and July 2021. Starlink's estimate of 200,000 subscribers in the next 14 months suggests it will not be a major player any time soon.
The Register suggests price is a factor – StarLink requires $99 just for a deposit. But India's largest mobile carrier, Jio, today announced new mobile broadband plans that offer 2GB of downloads each day, plus unlimited voice services, for four weeks at the princely sum of $2.05. Jio's flagship handset, which [14]runs a special cut of Android , costs around $86 but can be paid off over many months. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://t.co/xscnDS4Cnn
[2] https://twitter.com/hashtag/DOT?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[3] https://twitter.com/DoT_India/status/1464236542067494915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[4] https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1775425
[5] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sanjaybhargava_spacex-activity-6867312875929665536-JMBI
[6] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sanjaybhargava_pleased-to-share-that-spacex-now-has-a-100-activity-6860904766105505792-eGoP
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YaSy7DsFw5v4l7VALnL8SwAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sanjaybhargava_starlink-preorder-oct-1-2021pdf-activity-6849499000240934912-hYVc
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YaSy7DsFw5v4l7VALnL8SwAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/10/viasat_acquires_inmarsat/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/09/amazon_musk_spacex_fcc_feud/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/22/satellite_internet_is_taking_over/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/24/indian_broadband_connections_top_800/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/googles_special_android_for_india/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Starlink registered its business in India on November 1, actively engaged in advertising and even pre-sold subscriptions. But it has not secured a license to operate, prompting India's Department of Telecommunications to issue a warning tweet.
The same is also evident from the website of Starlink ( [1]https://t.co/xscnDS4Cnn ) wherein satellite based internet services can be booked by users in Indian territory.
For rendering satellite based services in India, requisite license(s) from [2]#DOT are required. — DoT India (@DoT_India) [3]November 26, 2021
A press release [4]issued the same day offered more of the same, scalding Starlink by declaring "the Government has asked the company to comply with the Indian regulatory framework for rendering the satellite-based communication services and refrain from booking/rendering the satellite internet services in India with immediate effect."
The satellite internet company had been accepting preorders for a refundable deposit of ₹7,400 ($99).
Starlink's head of India, Sanjay Bhargava, recently said the company has signed over 5,000 customers. The outfit is outwardly confident that it can operate in India, as it is currently hiring [5]"two rockstars" to join Bhargava and beef up its Indian operations, which will run under a wholly owned subsidiary called Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited (SSCPL). Three weeks ago, Bhargava [6]commented that SSCPL could "now start applying for licenses, open bank accounts etc."
[7]
Bhargava joined Starlink two months ago and wasted no time encouraging people to preorder and sign up for the service. "If you want to get Starlink quickly after we start shipping to India preorder your Starlink now. I preordered by just typing 'How to Preorder Starlink' in Google," he [8]said in a LinkedIn post.
[9]
"Our stretch target is to have 200,000 terminals active in India in December 2022. Actual numbers maybe much lower than that or even zero if we do not get government approval but it is very unlikely that we will exceed 200,000," conceded Bhargava.
[10]Satellite of love: Space broadband outfit Viasat acquires rival Inmarsat
[11]Amazon says Elon Musk's wicked, wicked ways mean SpaceX's Starlink 2.0 should not be allowed to fly
[12]In the '80s, satellite comms showed promise – soon it'll be a viable means to punt internet services at anyone anywhere
India is already home to [13]800 million broadband connections – a number that grew by 15 million between June and July 2021. Starlink's estimate of 200,000 subscribers in the next 14 months suggests it will not be a major player any time soon.
The Register suggests price is a factor – StarLink requires $99 just for a deposit. But India's largest mobile carrier, Jio, today announced new mobile broadband plans that offer 2GB of downloads each day, plus unlimited voice services, for four weeks at the princely sum of $2.05. Jio's flagship handset, which [14]runs a special cut of Android , costs around $86 but can be paid off over many months. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://t.co/xscnDS4Cnn
[2] https://twitter.com/hashtag/DOT?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[3] https://twitter.com/DoT_India/status/1464236542067494915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[4] https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1775425
[5] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sanjaybhargava_spacex-activity-6867312875929665536-JMBI
[6] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sanjaybhargava_pleased-to-share-that-spacex-now-has-a-100-activity-6860904766105505792-eGoP
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YaSy7DsFw5v4l7VALnL8SwAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sanjaybhargava_starlink-preorder-oct-1-2021pdf-activity-6849499000240934912-hYVc
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YaSy7DsFw5v4l7VALnL8SwAAAAA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/10/viasat_acquires_inmarsat/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/09/amazon_musk_spacex_fcc_feud/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/22/satellite_internet_is_taking_over/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/24/indian_broadband_connections_top_800/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/01/googles_special_android_for_india/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Dear Leader Elon
Anonymous Coward
will not be amused.
His grand plan to get the whole world driving Teslas and using his walled garden of a comms network seems to have hit an iceberg. We don't know how big said berg is but...
Lets go Emperor Elon the 1st.
it does not have a valid license
Anonymous Coward
because your gov (well, any) wants a finger in the pie, and an eye on the content provided from the sky. If the gov's not in control... CHAOS!
Rockstars...
Joe W
... and satellites / space?
Only if you are referring to Dr. Brian May[a]. Otherwise this term is just a BS-term, like "not making uncontrolled changes cuspid to a dual diurnal period of non-attendance."[0]
[a] who at least is an astrophysicist - there might be others I am not aware of, though
[0] https://www.theregister.com/2015/06/26/bofh_2015_episode_8/
Re: Rockstars...
Steve K
Brian Cox too?
Pre-orders to get foot in the door
I had pre-ordered my Dishy McFlatface the moment I saw that the site was open. Can't for the life of me remember whether ACCC had issued a license of not, but I believe it was before.
Just to make sure I got a foot in the door and have hope to give our NBN the finger.
As a result I got my dish in the first round of deliveries - whereas others now have to wait until some time in 2022, due to SL also falling prey to supply problems.
At worst, if ACCC had refused a license, I would have had to chase down my deposit. Don't really understand why the Indian government needs to get all shirty about pre-orders. Even if people managed to get a dish somewhere (which they normally can't until service exists at their address, barring dark channels), it wouldn't work until... service exists at their address!