Government of India has warned Indians to not buy Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet Services

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has warned Indian citizens to not buy Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet Services In India as the same is not yet licensed in the country. In a statement, the telecom department told Elon Musk’s company to “get a licence before offering Satellite-based services.”

The government pointed out that SpaceX’s satellite broadband arm Starlink Internet Services stands barred to offer any such services in the country. The government has also asked the billionaire’s internet-from-space company to comply with the regulatory framework for offering the service in India and stop booking or rendering the internet service in India “with immediate effect”.

Govt’s warning to Starlink

The department said it noticed that Starlink has started pre-selling the service in India as is evident from its website as well wherein satellite-based internet services can be booked by users in Indian territory.

“It has come to notice that M/s Starlink has started pre-selling/booking of the satellite based Starlink Internet Services in India. The same is also evident from the website of Starlink (www.starlink.com) wherein satellite based internet services can be booked by users in Indian territory,” said the government.

SpaceX has been accepting orders for the beta version of the service for a fully refundable deposit of $99 or Rs 7,400.

Govt’s advisory to citizens

Starlink needs to get “requisite licenses” from the Department of Telecommunications for rendering satellite based services in India. The government also warned citizens, “It is hereby informed to the public at large that the said company has not obtained any license for rendering satellite based internet services that are being booked on their website. Given the fact that Starlink is not a licensee, the public is advised not to subscribe to Starlink services being advertised.”

It was in September when Musk last publicly spoke about India plans for Starlink. While responding to a question on Twitter, the SpaceX founder said he is figuring out the regulatory process in India. “Just figuring out the regulatory approval process,” he wrote.

Starlink’s public statement in October

Starlink India director Sanjay Bhargava said last month announced on LinkedIn that the company has successfully registered its India subsidiary —Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited. “Pleased to share that SpaceX now has a 100% owned subsidiary in India.” The company plans to roll out services across 200,000 active terminals in more than 160,000 districts by 2022.

Musk had recently claimed that Starlink will have the capability to transfer data at the speed of light. At present, the Starlink network relies on a dish, satellites and ground stations, GizmoChina reported. The company wants to get rid of these ground stations that have proved to be a hindrance for fast data transfers due to the long time they take to communicate with the satellites.