Telecom NGO alleges Starlink illegally accepting pre-order deposits

NGO Telecom Watchdog in a letter to the telecom secretary has alleged that US billionaire Elon Musk-led Starlink is illegally collecting money from Indian consumers with a promise of providing them broadband service even though it has no licence for the same.

The non-governmental organisation has demanded that a criminal case be filed against the satellite broadband firm for cheating Indian citizens and its illegal activity should be stopped immediately.

Telecom Watchdog, in its letter dated September 29, said Starlink has started collecting money even without submitting an application for license with the Department of Telecom (DoT).

"Even if they submit an application for a license, there is no guarantee that the license will be issued. The payments are being collected in US dollars. It is a serious offence under RBI Rules as the rules permit remittance to a foreign party only for specific purposes for the party to receive the money," the letter said.

An e-mail query sent to Starlink did not elicit any immediate response.

Starlink aims to start broadband service in India from December 2022 with 2 lakh active terminals, subject to permission from the government, a top company official said on Friday.

Starlink Country Director for India Sanjay Bhargava, in a social media post, said the pre-orders from India have crossed 5,000 and the company is keen to work in rural areas for providing broadband services.

"Our stretch target is to have 2,00,000 terminals active in India in December 2022. Actual numbers may be much lower than that or even zero if we do not get government approval but it is very unlikely that we will exceed 2,00,000," Bhargava said.

The company is charging a deposit of USD 99 or Rs 7,350 per customer.

Telecom Watchdog said Starlink is collecting money on its own terms and conditions without looking at Indian laws.

"Taking an advance of about Rs 7,500 from every customer, without having an operating license is nothing but cheating the Indian consumers.

"They have stated that such deposit money will not be kept under any secured accounts and would be interest free, which means that such money will be available to the company and there is no restriction for its end-use," the letter said.

The NGO also alleged that DoT's Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring cell, which keeps an eye on illegal activities in the telecom space, is aware of the matter.

"Such illegal activities of the company should be dealt with strongly. It is shocking that the officers in the DoT have not taken any action on this so far. Their complicity with the company also needs to be investigated," the letter said.

In its pre-order note, Starlink has said its service is available in many countries and it will be easier for it to get government approvals if it has a high number of pre-orders from India.

Starlink claims to deliver data speeds in the range of 50 to 150 megabit per second in the beta stage.

The services of Starlink, if launched, will compete with that of Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea in the broadband space. It will also be a direct competitor to Bharti Group-backed OneWeb.

Bhargava said Startlink will be working with rural constituencies who are keen to have 100 per cent broadband.

"Most of this will be provided by terrestrial broadband, but the hard-to-serve areas will be handled by Satcom providers like Starlink," he said.