Billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellite Communication has partnered with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to enable a “quick and KYC-compliant” process for customers in India.
In an official statement on August 20, the Ministry of Electronics & IT said that the satellite internet provider will use Aadhaar-based verification to onboard customers in India, promising a “smooth, secure and very easy” process.
The ministry release added that Aadhaar’s face authentication solution is gaining faster momentum due to its ease of usage and convenience for Aadhaar number holders.
‘Use by global satellite internet provider demonstrates scalability, reliability’
The ministry in its statement added that the use of Aadhaar authentication by a global satellite internet provider “demonstrates the scalability and reliability of India’s digital infrastructure”.
“It highlights how Aadhaar can enable innovation in service delivery while ensuring transparency and accountability,” it added.
The statement noted that the appointment of Starlink Satellite Communication as a Sub-Authentication User Agency and Sub-eKYC user agency was done in the presence of CEO UIDAI Sh Bhuvnesh Kumar; Deputy Director General UIDAI Sh Manish Bhardwaj and Parnil Urdhwareshe, Director, Starlink India.
Elon Musk’s Starlink in India
On August 1, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia confirmed that the Elon Musk-led company has received approval to roll out satellite-based internet services in India. He added that Starlink has been granted a Unified Licence by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
Starlink joins other players in the satcom space such as Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio SES, both of which are also awaiting spectrum allocation to commence operations.
