BIG update on Starlink in India: Elon Musk’s satcom giant to conduct demo-runs in THIS city on…; BIG challenge for Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Mittal due to…

Starlink will conduct the demo run based on the provisional spectrum it has been assigned, and the trial will be monitored by designated law enforcement agencies.

Starlink in India: In a major update regarding the launch of Starlink services India, the Elon Musk-led satcom giant will conduct demo-runs in Mumbai on October 30 and 31 to demonstrate compliance with India’s security and technical conditions for satellite broadband services.

Why Starlink is conducting demo-runs?

Starlink will conduct the demo run based on the provisional spectrum it has been assigned, and the trial will be monitored by designated law enforcement agencies, news agency PTI reported, citing sources.

As per the PTI report, Starlink’s demo runs aim to show compliance with the security norms (Lawful Interception System and Lawful Interception Monitoring) and technical conditions of the GMPCS authorisation, and will be conducted in Mumbai (its gateway location) on October 30 and 31.

The Elon Musk-owned satcom services provider is reportedly eyeing capacity of 600 gigabit per second, sources said, adding that based on this capacity (gen 1 constellation) and back-of-the-envelope calculation, the number of connections in future could be around 1 lakh or more.

So far, Starlink has been granted three gateways by the telecom department– one each in Mumbai, Noida, and Chennai. PTI quoted sources as saying.

How Starlink poses challenge to Jio and Airtel?

Earlier, in June this year, Starlink became the third company after Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Airtel, to receive the license to operate satcom services in India.

Starlink’s planned entry into India is being as a major challenge for domestic telecom majors Reliance Jio and Airtel, who have plans to launch their own satellite-based broadband services– Bharti Airtel’s Eutelsat OneWeb and and Reliance Jio-SES– in the country.

Notably, both Reliance Jio and Airtel, India’s top two telecom service providers, had earlier announced separate partnerships with Starlink to bring its high-speed satellite internet services to their customers in India.

But both deals were later called off as domestic telecom providers, including Jio and Airtel Airtel and Jio, objected to the recommendations made by TRAI regarding spectrum allocation to satcom companies, alleging that these are “non-transparent and non- justifiable”, and tilted in favor of satellite companies over domestic terrestrial operators.

Last month, the telecom department’s highest decision-making body decided to seek clarification from TRAI on certain aspects of satellite spectrum recommendations, including fee mooted for urban customers and the annual minimum spectrum charges suggested by the regulator.

(With inputs from agencies)