It seems Elon Musk's Starlink has finally, finally gotten the golden ticket to ride in India! After what feels like an eternity (or, you know, since 2022, which in tech years is practically an eternity), the Indian space regulator, IN-SPACe, has given them the thumbs-up to launch commercial operations.
Apparently, they've cleared the "only remaining regulatory hurdle." Because, of course, there were, like, a million other hurdles before this "only remaining" one. Classic.
A brief history
So, last month, Starlink snagged a fancy license from the telecom ministry, probably after an intense staring contest with the bureaucracy. But the real prize, the actual permission to unleash their satellite internet goodness, was waiting on IN-SPACe. And now, they have it! For a glorious five years, no less.
Let's just hope they don't lose it under a pile of space debris or something.
Turns out, Reuters was already spilling the beans earlier, because nothing says "breaking news" like a well-placed "citing sources" tidbit. Starlink now gets to join the exclusive club of satellite internet providers in India, alongside Eutelsat's OneWeb and our very own Reliance Jio. So, if you ever felt left out of the space-internet party, your options are slowly, begrudgingly, expanding.
Just because they can launch doesn't mean they will tomorrow. Starlink still needs to go begging for spectrum from the government – because apparently, even in space, you gotta pay to play.
Then, they need to set up some actual ground infrastructure (gasp!), and, perhaps most hilariously, demonstrate that they can actually meet the security rules they've signed up for. Because, you know, we wouldn't want rogue internet signals taking over our toasters.
Is it Jio vs Starlink next?
Oh, and let's not forget the epic clash of the titans! Elon Musk and India's very own billionaire bigwig, Mukesh Ambani of Jio, apparently had a good old-fashioned spat over how this magical "spectrum" should be handed out.
Musk, predictably, wanted it assigned (read: given to him), while Ambani probably wanted a good old-fashioned auction to duke it out. And in a surprising turn of events, the Indian government sided with Musk. Guess the "assigned, not auctioned" argument had some gravity to it, or maybe someone just got tired of the drama.
So, there you have it. Starlink is in. Now let's see if our internet speeds finally go to infinity and beyond, or if we just get slightly faster cat videos. Fingers crossed for the former, but honestly, I'm prepared for anything.