Musk's X fights India in court, but Starlink gets green signal for entry

Elon Musk’s SpaceX-made Starlink has passed most of the regulatory and licensing requirements to operate in India, moving a step closer to launching its first satellite internet services at the same time as the Tesla CEO’s other company, X, faces legal trouble in the country.

Pawan Goenka, the Chairman of India’s space regulator, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), told NDTV that while the groundwork for an upcoming launch is set by Starlink, the project still has to address several technical and procedural steps.

“Even after authorisation, it will take a few months for the service to become operational,” Goenka told the news outlet after holding a meeting with SpaceX’s President and COO, Gwynne Shotwell.

He added that the internet provider is set to get the final approvals in the coming days.

SpaceX has been trying to launch its internet services in the Indian market since 2021. It is one of the world’s biggest telecom markets, with nearly 100 crore users.

Earlier this month, Starlink was greenlit by the Department of Telecommunications, paving the way for its possible launch in India, after nearly four years of deliberations.

Sources from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) told NDTV that the satellite-based internet service provider is expected to launch operations in India with a bandwidth capacity of 600 to 700 Gbps.

Starlink operates in over 100 countries across the world, with a huge market in Asia. The company provides internet services to countries like Mongolia, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Jordan, Yemen, Azerbaijan, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

X fights in court

Meanwhile, X has been fighting its case in an Indian court over one of its lawyers’ comments on government officials.

A lawyer for Elon Musk’s X told an Indian court on Tuesday that every “Tom, Dick, and Harry” government official had been authorised to issue content takedown orders, drawing a sharp rebuke from New Delhi’s counsel in the latest clash over content moderation.

The remarks were made during a hearing on the US firm’s challenge to a government-run website it says is a “censorship portal” that allows officials to issue content removal orders. New Delhi says the website is only to swiftly notify companies of their due diligence obligations.

During the court hearing, X’s lawyer, KG Raghavan, said it recently received a notice from the railways department to remove a video in which a car was being driven on a railway track. That was news, but the government found it unlawful, he told the court.

With inputs from agencies