Sanjay Bhargava, head of Elon-Musk-led Starlink’s India operation, has resigned from the post within three months of his appointment. Bhargava’s surprise resignation comes amid the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the department of telecom (DoT) rebuking Starlink for selling pre-bookings for its telecom business in India without necessary authorisations.

Bhargava announced his resignation on Tuesday evening through a LinkedIn post. "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," Bhargava said.

Quoting American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, Bhargava said in another LinkedIn post the reason for his resignation “is blowing in the wind”.

“I counted my years and realised I have less time to live by than I have lived so far,” he said in the post, adding he had no time for endless meetings where discussions would be held but nothing would be done.

“I no longer have the patience to stand absurd people who, despite their chronological age, have not grown up,” Bhargava wrote.

The former country head has joined the team on October 1. Prior to his short stint in Starlink, Bhargava had worked with Musk’s global team for the electronic payments firm, PayPal.

Starlink’s trouble with DoT

Starlink, the satellite broadband company owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, had started accepting pre-orders in India for the beta version of its upcoming satellite broadband service, priced at around Rs 7,425. The company has already sold over 7,000 connections in India before DoT barred it from seeking pre-bookings for its internet-from-space service. This was followed by a directive from Trai on December 7, asking Starlink Internet Services to “desist from soliciting telecom business and collecting related fees” without the required authorisations.

In an earlier LinkedIn post, Bhargava had written that Starlink was planning to apply for a commercial licence in India by January 31.

The company had targeted rolling out services by April and setting up 200,000 terminals in India by December 2022, earlier reports said.

Also Read // Elon Musk’s Starlink faces license hurdle, govt advises against booking services

Before the resignation

Bhargava’s resignation comes on a day when Starlink started refunding the payments it had accepted from the customers who had pre-booked the service. "We have been directed by India's DoT to refund pre-orders until we are licensed," the company said in a communication to its customers.

"They (Starlink) are in the process of refunding ... somebody from their organisation came and met us a few weeks back and told us so," Economic Times quoted a senior DoT official as saying.

The official said the company was also in the process of applying for a licence and that it could accept orders after getting the clearances.

Uncertain future

Meanwhile, Starlink has sent a communication to those who had pre-booked the service, hinting at uncertainties around the future availability due to multiple unresolved issues related to the licensing framework in India, reported Economic Times.

"Unfortunately, the timeline for receiving licenses to operate is currently unknown, and there are several issues that must be resolved within the licensing framework to allow us to operate Starlink in India," the company said.

Also Read // TRAI asks Elon Musk’s Starlink to stop selling pre-bookings without license

(Edited by : Yashi Gupta)