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Elon Musk's satellite Internet provider Starlink has received a license from India's space regulator to launch commercial services in the country. This is reported by Reuters with reference to informed sources.

This was the last authorization the company had been expecting since 2022. Last month, Starlink already received a key telecommunications license from the Indian Ministry of Communications.

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Thus, Starlink will become the third satellite Internet operator to officially enter the Indian market.

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Earlier, India allowed OneWeb (a British-French consortium of Eutelsat) and Reliance Jio, owned by the richest Indian Mukesh Ambani, to operate in the country.

To fully launch services, Starlink still needs to obtain frequencies (spectrum) from the Indian government, build ground infrastructure, and pass tests and prove compliance with safety standards.

Earlier, Musk and Ambani had argued about how the Indian government should allocate radio frequencies for the satellite Internet: sell them at auctions or assign them for free.

As a result, the authorities supported Musk's approach – the frequencies will be provided without an auction.

  • In April, it was reported that Starlink's main competitor, Eutelsat, would not be able to replace satellite communications in the short term quickly enough Elon Musk in Ukraine.