Bangladesh grants Musk licence for Starlink rollout

DHAKA: Bangladesh said on Sunday it had granted a licence to tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, as punishing US tariffs raise fears for its key garment sector.

The Starlink service will be unveiled at a government-backed investment summit that opens in Dhaka on Monday. “We granted them approval,” Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud, chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, told reporters on Sunday. Mahmud said it was granted on March 28, several days before US President Donald Trump unveiled his wide-ranging tariff programme that sent global markets into a tailspin. The new tariff on Bangladesh goods was set at 37 percent, hiking duties from the previous 16 percent on cotton.

Musk has a highly visible White House role as Trump’s right-hand man and his meetings with foreign leaders have raised questions about the blurring of the line between his official roles and business interests.

Dhaka’s interim authorities, who took over after a student-led revolution toppled the hardline former government in August 2024, are seeking US diplomatic support.