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Starlink India head Sanjay Bhargava resigns

His resignation comes just weeks after the government stated that Starlink Internet Services is not licensed to offer satellite-based internet services in India.

Elon Musk-backed satellite broadband company Starlink’s India head Sanjay Bhargava has stepped down from the position of Country Director and Chairman of the Board of Starlink India “for personal reasons,” he stated in a LinkedIn post on January 4.

“My last working day was December 31, 2021. I will have no comments for individuals and media so please respect my privacy,” he added.

Bhargava managed SpaceX’s India operations for three months after being named country director for the company’s subsidiary in October.

Starlink’s India subsidiary was incorporated on November 1; the company is in its initial stages of setting shop in India. It has been looking to provide satellite broadband services through low earth orbit (LEO) satellites from December 2022.

Starlink has been facing regulatory issues for the past few months when industry players such as Reliance and Delhi-based NGO Telecom Watchdog raised an outcry against Starlink taking pre-orders without a commercial license to provide satellite internet services. The Department of Telecommunications raised an issue as well, which caused the LEO company to suspend pre-orders and subsequently refund the $99 pre-orders that had already been made.