 |
| India asks the public to avoid Starlink |
India has instructed the public not to pre-order its Starlink satellite internet service from SpaceX, according to a report by Reuters.
As the report notes, the Government of India said the company would need a license to operate in the country in order to start rolling out its services.
"The public is advised not to subscribe to the Starlink service in advertisements," read a tweet from India's Ministry of Communications.
India's Ministry of Communications also said it had asked the service not to reserve or provide satellite internet service in India.
In other words, the service should be suspended pending the approval of the Government of India.
The service was reviewed by the Government of India in April. It was around this time that India's Ministry of Communications began investigating whether its trial run was in violation of any of India's telecommunications laws.
As the Economic Times pointed out, India's Department of Communications came at a time when an independent political organization representing major tech companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook (BIF) was pushing India's telecom department to stop selling Starlink devices without authorization.
The Indian Ministry of Communications is trying to assess whether the offer of service violates the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885, the Indian Radiotelegraph Act 1933, the Indian Satellite Communications Policy 2000 and the Information Technology (IT) Act 2000.
Reuters reported that Starlink officially registered its business in India on November 1. It has registered more than 5,000 pre-orders in the country.
Does Starlink's offer violate communication rules?
There is no information about the possibility of canceling an existing reservation. Or if the customer has to wait longer.
The service plans to deploy 200,000 devices in India by 2022, 80% of which will be in rural areas.
According to a PCMag report earlier this month, the service is currently testing about 140,000 users in 20 different countries.
Elon Musk predicts that the number of service customers could exceed 500,000 next year.
More and more companies are launching small satellites. As part of a network operating in low Earth orbit.
These companies hope to provide low latency broadband Internet services around the world. Focus on remote areas that suffer from a lack of terrestrial internet infrastructure.