Starlink Internet Services has yet to satisfy Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and other stakeholders over its technical plan—being evaluated for the launch of services in the country, official sources told ProPakistani.
Official documents available with ProPakistani revealed that the Technical plan submitted by Starlink is under evaluation by relevant stakeholders.
The Government of Pakistan is in consultation with all stakeholders including SUPARCO, LEAs, PTA, and FAB to analyze the Starlink technical and business plan, as regional and various international countries are taking a cautious approach to allow or deny Starlink due to respective satellite regimes as well as security aspects.
The documents further revealed that security clearance of Starlink and related technical vulnerabilities assessment especially its data hosting outside the country and utilization of laser technology from satellite to satellite without using Earth Gateways is being analyzed by Law Enforcement Agency.
Further action of granting a license or otherwise will be taken by the PTA after clearance from all stakeholders.
In accordance with existing regulatory provisions, Long Distance & International (LD1) and Local Loop (LL) licensees of PTA are allowed to provide Satellite-based telecommunication services in their respective licensed region(s).
Starlink Internet Services Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd. (Starlink) which is owned by Starlink Holdings Netherlands B.V., applied for an LDI license for Pakistan on 24th February 2022 along with 14 x LL licenses for all Telecom Regions of Pakistan on 29th April 2022.
All stakeholders were intimated and the Starlink case is being analyzed from a technical perspective on a non-exclusive, non-interference, and non-protection basis.
Starlink Internet Services Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd. (Starlink) approached PTA to permit Starlink (SpaceX) to operate in Pakistan. Traditional satellites are operating in Pakistan in Geo Stationary Orbit (GSO) (at an altitude of 36000 Km). However, Starlink differs from GSO technically, as it operates in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude between 250 to 500 Km, thus providing low latency connectivity.
Starlink/SpaceX satellites can also communicate with many Ground Stations at a time and conversely, one ground station can connect to many Starlink satellites.
Satellite-to-satellite connectivity also exists through laser technology to effectively expand its footprint in all areas.
Internet bandwidth is normally accessed from ground stations within the country, where services are extended through Starlink thus optical fiber cable bandwidth is up / downlinked through space stations and internet services are provided to end-user in the country.
we already have reservation for for the dish. but don’t know what’s going on and what gonna happen . i hope govt. will grant license to starlink as soon as possible.
The Army will never allow them to get license.