Putting out in public domain cost-benefit analyses of Starlink’s broadband-via-staellite service for individuals and State-level susbcribers, parent company SpaceX has said it will apply early next year for a commercial licence in India.

“We hope to have applied for a commercial license on or before 31st January 2022 (unless we hit some major roadblock),”  a Reuters report quoted Sanjay Bhargava, Starlink Country Director, India at SpaceX stating in a LinkedIn post last week.

If the company can roll out its services by April, it aims to have 200,000 Starlink devices in India by December 2022, it said in a presentation posted by Bhargava.

The company has previously said it expects 80 percent of these devices to be in rural areas.

Starlink is one of a growing number of companies launching small satellites as part of a low-Earth orbit network to provide low-latency broadband internet services around the world, with a particular focus on remote areas that terrestrial internet infrastructure struggles to reach.

Its competitors include Amazon.com’s Kuiper and OneWeb, which is co-owned by the British government and India’s Bharti Enterprises, amongst others.

While Starlink has already received over 5,000 pre-orders for its devices in India, it has not begun any services.

Even so, the Indian government, last week, advised people against subscribing to Starlink as it does not have a license to operate in the country. It also warned the company, ordering it to refrain from taking bookings and rendering services.

Starlink has stopped taking pre-orders for its devices, according to its website, “pending regulatory approval”.

Last month the company registered a local unit, Starlink Satellite Communications Private Ltd, paving the way for it to begin doing business in the country.