Starlink's India head Sanjay Bhargava quits for personal reasons

Earlier, Bhargava had said that the company's target is to have 200,000 terminals across the country by December 2022

Sanjay Bhargava, the India head of Starlink has quit the top job at Elon Musk’s satellite internet company for personal reasons.

“I have stepped down as Country Director and Chairman of the Board of Starlink India for personal reasons. My last working day was December 31, 2021. I will have no comments for individuals and media so please respect my privacy,” he wrote on LinkedIn on Tuesday.

A few weeks after the Department of Telecommunications pointed out in November that 'Starlink Internet Services' is not licensed to offer satellite-based internet services in India as being advertised to the public, the government told Parliament the company intends to apply for all the applicable licences needed for commercial launch in India.

“"M/s Starlink Satellite Communications Pvt Ltd has applied for experimental/trial license in DoT. The company has also informed that it intends to apply for all the applicable licenses and authorisations required for commercial launch in India," Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha in December.

He added that DoT (Department of Telecom) has directed the company to refrain from booking of satellite-based internet services before obtaining requisite licences. "Thereafter, the company has informed that they have stopped pre-selling/booking of satellite-based services in India," the minister further said.

Starlink is a satellite-based global internet system that SpaceX has been building for years to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world. It is doing so with a constellation of nearly 2,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.

Earlier, Bhargava had said that the company’s target after getting the licence is to have 200,000 terminals across the country by December 2022, with 80 per cent, significantly, in rural locations.