Elon Musk first applied to TRC for Starlink licence last year; IT industry annoyed for over 6 months delay

Elon Musk with President Ranil Wickremesinghe during their meeting in Bali, Indonesia last month 

• High speed broadband service using commercial satellites available in 32 countries including more stringent US, Mexico, Germany, France and Spain

Elon Musk’s revolutionary Starlink service had originally sought for a licence from the Telecommunications of Regulatory Commi-ssion of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) late last year and its application is still being processed and pending approval which has caused concern among the IT industry.

Industry analysts said Sri Lanka taking over six months to decide on Starlink high speed broadband service using commercial satellites reflects bad on Sri Lanka in terms of commitment and efficiency in expeditiously facilitating revolutionary technology.

According to SpaceX, Musk’s spacecraft company and the producer of Starlink, the broadband service with use of over 2,000 Starlink satellites is now available in 32 countries, including some parts of the US, Mexico, Germany, France and Spain. In that context analysts have questioned whether TRCSL has a different set of criteria as opposed to some of the developed and more security conscious nations to be taking many months for approval. Starlink services are especially effective in remote areas and places with little internet access and makes a perfect conduit for the Government’s digital push having unveiled a Digital Sri Lanka 2030 vision and strategy roadmap. According to SpaceX, Starlink is currently providing about 150 Mbps download speed and 20 Mbps upload speed with latency below 30 ms. Musk claims that when additional satellites are launched, the download speed should double to about 300 Mbps.

The Starlink Internet came under spotlight after President Ranil Wickremesinghe late last month met with Elon Musk on the sidelines of the 10th World Water Forum high-level meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

Post meeting held on 19 May, Wickremesinghe expressed commitment to fast-track the application process to connect Sri Lanka with the Starlink network. “Starlink’s expansion could be particularly transformative for countries like Sri Lanka, providing a lifeline to essential services and information,” President noted via a post on ‘X’.

Subject to long-pending approval, Starlink internet announced it was open for pre-order in Sri Lanka, with the public able to reserve the service by paying a fully refundable USD 9 deposit. Orders will be fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis within each coverage area.

Senior Presidential Advisor Ruwan Wijewardene who also accompanied President Wickremesinghe during the meeting with Musk, said last week that Sri Lanka hopes to launch Starlink service within three months. For Musk’s company this new timeline means over nine months of waiting.

According to the map posted by Starlink, countries marked ‘available’ will receive their Starlink installation package immediately. The map also has areas marked ‘waitlist’ and ‘coming soon’. Among the countries marked ‘coming soon’ are Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.