Elon Musk's Starlink begins hiring in India ahead of satellite broadband launch

Mumbai, Oct 31 (IANS) In a significant step toward its highly-anticipated satellite broadband rollout in India, SpaceX-owned Starlink has started its first round of hiring in the country.

As part of its hiring campaign, the Elon Musk-run company has posted openings for several positions on its LinkedIn and the SpaceX careers portal. The positions that the company is inviting applications for are finance and accounting roles, including tax manager, accounting manager, payments manager, and senior treasury analyst at Bengaluru, the operational centre of Starlink in India.

“As Starlink expands its global footprint to deliver low-latency satellite broadband services worldwide, its Indian subsidiary is looking to hire an accounting manager to oversee financial reporting and compliance,” the company stated in its job posting.

In order to support Starlink's operations in India, the position entails developing and expanding accounting, reporting, and statutory compliance systems. The company has made it clear that there are no remote or hybrid options available; only locally based applicants with legitimate work authorisation will be taken into consideration.

Starlink is hiring in preparation for the commercial launch of its satellite internet services in India in late 2025 or early 2026. In accordance with government regulations, the company is now establishing ground infrastructure and carrying out required security trials.

To comply with the Department of Telecommunications' (DoT) requirements for lawful interception and security compliance before spectrum allocation, Starlink gave a demonstration of its broadband service to officials in Mumbai earlier.

According to reports, the company has also applied for permission to open three gateway stations in Mumbai, Chennai, and Noida. After the launch, it intends to open nine to ten more gateway locations, including Chandigarh, Kolkata, and Lucknow.

Once up and running, Starlink will face competition from Jio Satellite and Eutelsat OneWeb, both of which have obtained regulatory clearances but are awaiting final spectrum allocation.

The frameworks for satellite broadband spectrum pricing and allocation are still being finalised by the DoT and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

--IANS

aps/na