Elon Musk-led Starlink is scheduled to conduct demonstration runs on October 30 and 31 in Mumbai to showcase compliance with security and technical conditions for satellite broadband services.

According to a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) official, the demos—conducted in the presence of law enforcement agencies—will be based on the provisional spectrum assigned to Starlink. The move marks a significant step toward the company’s planned entry into the Indian satellite broadband market, as these trials are an essential requirement for obtaining regulatory clearances before launching commercial services.

Currently, Starlink, Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, and Reliance Jio-SES have received Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licenses to offer satellite broadband services in India. However, the commercial rollout of satellite communication services will take time, as the companies remain in the trial phase and the DoT has yet to allocate satellite spectrum for commercial use.

Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia said at India Mobile Congress 2025 said that India will roll out its satellite communication network in record time, adding that the rollout would match the speed and success of the country’s 5G deployment. Scindia noted that India’s satellite communication (Satcom) market, which includes telecom and broadcasting, was valued at $4.3 billion in 2024 and is expected to triple to $14.8 billion by 2033, underscoring the sector’s enormous growth potential.

[Written by Rakesh Kumar of The New Indian Express]