“I have stepped down as Country Director and Chairman of the Board of Starlink India for personal reasons…my last working day was December 31, 2021. I will have no comments for individuals and media so please respect my privacy,” Bhargava said in a late Tuesday evening LinkedIn post.
Bhargava’s surprise resignation also coincided with Starlink kicking off the process of refunding the $99 (Rs 7,400 approx) deposits it had collected from around 7,000-odd Indian citizens who had pre-booked a connection from the satellite broadband arm of Musk’s SpaceX.
Bhargava had taken charge of Starlink’s India operation on October 1 as its country director. He had previously worked with Musk as part of a global team that had founded electronic payments firm, PayPal.
Just over a month ago, the communications ministry had barred Starlink from seeking any pre-bookings for its upcoming broadband-from-space service in India as it still does not have a local licence or the necessary authorisation. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) too had subsequently asked Starlink to “desist from soliciting telecom business and collecting related fees,” without the necessary authorisations.
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