Elon Musk's Starlink gets licence to operate in India: Report

Elon Musk’s Starlink has received a licence for satellite communication services in India, according to sources cited by the Press Trust of India.

This makes Starlink the third company to obtain such a license from the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The Indian government is yet to confirm the same, as no official announcement has been made.

DoT sources confirmed that Starlink has been granted the licence and mentioned that the company will be allocated trial spectrum within 15-20 days of their application.

Starlink had been waiting since 2022

Starlink had been trying to get the licence to operate in India since 2022 but faced delays due to national security concerns.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper is also still waiting for its Indian licence.

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In March 2025, Bharti Airtel, a major Indian telecom company, announced a partnership with SpaceX to offer Starlink’s high-speed internet in India. This deal depends on SpaceX getting government approval to provide satellite services in the country.

Soon after, Reliance Jio, led by Mukesh Ambani, also signed a deal with SpaceX to bring Starlink to India.

Starlink operates a network of over 6,750 small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet to millions of users globally.

If India, the service could be used to revolutionise internet access, particularly in remote and underserved regions.

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Earlier, Indian Telecom Minister J Scindia also said that the country needed satellite connectivity for better connectivity in remote areas.

Starlink is currently serving more than 5 million customers across the world. However, India remains one major market where the service still remains to go operational.

Notably, Starlink had already agreed to meet the Indian government’s data localisation and security requirements. Previously, this was a key point of contention and had proven to be a roadblock in negotiations.

In March this year, Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX, said the company is looking forward to “receiving authorisation from the Government of India to provide more people, organisations and businesses with access to Starlink’s highspeed internet services.”