Starlink Says It Built Its India Operation, So Why Can't It Switch On Services

On paper, Starlink has done most of what India asked of it. It holds an operator licence from the Department of Telecommunications.

In July, IN-SPACe authorised its satellite constellation, which reports described as the last regulatory approval it needed. And at the India Mobile Congress, a senior SpaceX executive said the company has already shaped its Indian operations around the country's rules.

Yet commercial services have not begun, and the government has not said when they will.

What Starlink Says It Has In Place

Lauren Dreyer, Vice-President of Starlink Business Operations at SpaceX, told the Congress that the company designed its India set-up around local security requirements and regulations. She said controls exist at every layer and that Indian user data stays within the country. Starlink, she said, will be ready to serve whenever India is, and wants to work with the government, operators and industry toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aim of connecting every corner of the country.

Those claims map closely onto the guidelines the Department of Telecommunications issued in May. Satcom firms must monitor traffic in real time to confirm nothing to or from India is routed through a gateway abroad, and they must undertake not to copy or decrypt Indian telecom data outside the country. Data centres must sit inside India, and Domain Name System resolution must be possible within its territory. The rules also ask for a year-by-year manufacturing plan that gets at least 20% of the ground segment indigenised within five years of starting commercial operations. Terminals are expected to carry NavIC, India's regional navigation system, on a best-effort basis, with a time-bound plan to adopt it by 2029. Voice and data services each need a separate security clearance, and operators must be able to restrict service for individuals, groups or areas during hostilities.

Where The Switch Is Stuck

The holdup is the security assessment. The Ministry of Communications said every licensee must show compliance with security conditions meant to protect users and their data, and that this check is under way for all three licence holders. Only after it ends for a company can that company move to the next step, which is seeking spectrum. The Ministry gave no timeline.

Earlier reports pointed to a specific worry. The government fears foreign operators could bypass Indian gateways to offer services, which would leave it without control over them. These gateways are earth stations on Indian soil that link satellite constellations to domestic telecom networks, and all traffic starting or ending in India is meant to pass through them.

Starlink is not the only one waiting. The other licensees are Eutelsat OneWeb, which is backed by Bharti, and Jio Satellite Communications Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms. Amazon Leo, owned by Jeff Bezos, is also in contention for a licence, the report said. Reliance Jio is building a sovereign low earth orbit constellation of its own, and is considering a network of 1,600 to 1,650 satellites at an estimated cost of $10-15 billion. Starlink operates the world's largest constellation, with around 7,000 satellites in orbit.

Ministry's Reply

The delay has turned public. Days before the Congress, Elon Musk said on X that "certain oligarchs" were blocking Starlink to keep their monopoly hold over Indian consumers. He said the service would bring fast, affordable internet to people who cannot pay current prices or have no connection, and called the situation "a crime against the people of India".

The Ministry replied without naming him. It said the government runs a fair and non-discriminatory authorisation framework for all telecom services, satcom included, and that licences have been granted to three Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) providers using non-geosynchronous orbit satellites. All three, it said, sit at broadly the same regulatory stage. It called the suggestion of an unfair or discriminatory process "baseless and misconceived".

Satellite communication relies on satellites in orbit to deliver connectivity to homes and businesses, and unlike cable, fibre or DSL, it needs no wires on the ground. Starlink's view is that its India operations already meet the conditions the government has set. The Ministry's position is that the assessment is still running, and no company can proceed to spectrum until it is done.