New Delhi: Elon Musk-owned satellite provider Starlink has received a licence to launch commercial operations in India from the telecoms ministry.

Department of Telecom (DoT) sources told PTI that Starlink has indeed received licence, and said the provider would be granted trial spectrum in 15-20 days of applying for it.

The approval is good news for Musk, whose public spat with President Donald Trump threatens $22 billion of SpaceX's contracts and space programmes with the US government, Reuters reported.

Starlink is the third company to get a license from DoT, which has approved similar applications by Eutelsat's OneWeb and Reliance Jio to provide services in the country.

Musk had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the katter's visit to United States in February. The two was reported to have discussed Starlink's launch plans and India's concerns over meeting certain security conditions.

Starlink has been waiting since 2022 for licences to operate commercially in India, and although it has cleared a major hurdle, it is a long way from launching commercial services.

It still needs a separate licence from India's space regulator, which Starlink is close to securing, said a third source with direct knowledge of the process without giving details.

Starlink will then need to secure spectrum from the government, set up ground infrastructure and also demonstrate, through testing and trials, that it meets the security rules it has signed up for, one of the two sources said. 

Jio and Bharti Airtel have already inked a partnership deal with Musk to stock Starlink equipment in their retail stores.

Deloitte predicts India's satellite broadband service market will be worth $1.9 billion by 2030, making it lucrative for players like Starlink and Amazon's Kuiper, which is still awaiting a licence, Reuters reported.

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