Elon Musk-owned SpaceX sets up subsidiary in India, plans to apply for licence

World's richest person Elon Musk-owned SpaceX has incorporated its wholly-owned subsidiary in India to start local broadband operations, a top official of the company said.

SpaceX's satellite broadband arm Starlink aims to start broadband services in India from December 2022, with two lakh active terminals subject to permission from the government.

"Pleased to share that SpaceX now has a 100 percent owned subsidiary in India. The name is SSCPL - Starlink Satellite Communications Private Limited and the incorporation date is November 1, 2021. Happy Birthday, SSCPL. We can now start applying for licenses, open bank accounts, etc," Starlink country director India at SpaceX Sanjay Bhargava said in a social media post.

Starlink claims to have received over 5,000 pre-orders from India. The company is charging a deposit of $99 or Rs 7,350 per customer and claims to deliver data speeds in the range of 50 to 150 megabit per second in beta stage.

The services of the company will compete with that of Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea in broadband and it will be a direct competitor to Bharti Group-backed OneWeb.

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The company is keen to work in rural areas for providing broadband services.

Earlier in July this year, American electric vehicle maker Tesla may set up a manufacturing unit in India if it succeeds with imported vehicles in the country, according to company CEO Elon Musk.

He, however, said, that at present, import duties in India are "the highest in the world" and is hoping for "at least a temporary tariff relief for electric vehicles".

Interacting on twitter with followers who asked him to launch Tesla cars in India Musk said, "We want to do so, but import duties are the highest in the world by far of any large country!"

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)