Elon Musk's Starlink may soon get a licence to start its services in India
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Elon Musk's Starlink may get a nod to start its service in India from the telecom ministry, The Times of India (TOI) reported on Tuesday. The satellite company has been stuck with the home ministry over security reasons for months now.
The ministry is expected to hold a meeting later this month to discuss the proposal of Starlink for a global mobile personal communication by satellite (GMPCS) services license, and it is likely to be passed, a source was quoted as saying in the report. However, some last-minute hiccups cannot be ruled out.
After the GMPCS, Starlink would need to get approvals from several government wings and the space ministry. Then, it can start working towards launching its operations in the country.
Currently, Mukesh Ambani's Jio and Sunil Mittal-backed One Web have GMPCS licences in India. Jio is in a partnership with Luxembourg-based SES. Jeff Bezos also has a similar project titled "Kuiper," but it is yet to come to India.
Starlink was reprimanded by the telecom ministry in 2021 when it started taking advance orders for its devices in India without having a license. Ober 5,000 subscribers had placed their pre-orders costing about $99 each.
The company was also asked to refund the money collected from Indians.
Earlier in June, Reuters reported that Starlink is lobbying India not to auction the satellite broadband spectrum and just assign licences in line with a global trend. It said the spectrum is a natural resource that should be shared by companies. An auction may impose geographical restrictions that will raise costs, it said.
On the other hand, Reliance disagrees and has called for an auction in a public submission to the Centre, saying foreign satellite service providers could offer voice and data services and compete with traditional telecom players, so there must be an auction to achieve a level playing field.
In signs of deepening rivalry, an industry source was quoted as saying that Reliance will continue nudging the government to auction satellite spectrum and not agree to the demands of foreign companies.
Interestingly, Starlink's view on auctions is shared by Project Kuiper and One Web.
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After Haryana, the BJP would also sweep the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, BJP president J P Nadda asserted on Friday.
Nadda, who paid obeisance at the Shri Naina Devi temple here, said the people were happy with the performance of the BJP government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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Noel Tata, half-brother of the late Ratan Tata, has been unanimously elected as the chairman of Tata Trusts following the passing of the legendary industrialist Ratan Tata, CNBC-TV18 reported on Friday. Noel Tata is already a key trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. He will now lead the trusts that hold a controlling stake in Tata Sons, the primary holding company of the Tata Group.
The move has long been anticipated, given Noel Tata’s close involvement with Tata Trusts and his extensive experience within the conglomerate.
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After the Haryana poll debacle, Congress MP and LoP Rahul Gandhi attended the review meeting called by party president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in Delhi. Among those present were the party's Haryana observers Ashok Gehlot, Ajay Maken, Deepak Babaria and KC Venugopal.
Sources said that the Congress MP remained largely quite, but when his turn came, he observed two things; one being that Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and the Election Commission of India (EC) "have much to answer" and another was that "the local leaders were more interested in their own progress than that of the party", leaving a loud silence in the room.
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Former US President Donald Trump, who is campaigning for another term in the White House, promised to introduce a system of "reciprocal tariffs" if re-elected. In an economic policy speech in Detroit on Thursday, the Republican candidate singled out India, claiming it imposes some of the highest tariffs on foreign goods among major global economies.
This is not the first time Trump has criticised India for its tariffs. Just last month, he called the nation a "big abuser" of US trade relations.
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has announced a bonus and ex-gratia for 2.75 lakh employees of state public sector undertakings and statutory boards for the 2023-24 fiscal.
Accordingly, all eligible workers of profit making PSUs under group C and D will be paid a minimum bonus of Rs 8,400 and a maximum of Rs 16,800, amounting to 8.33 per cent bonus and an ex-gratia of 11.67 per cent, an official release here said.
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