Starlink was the last of India’s three satellite communication companies to apply for a licence and the last to submit its security compliance documents, government sources said on Friday.
The remarks come a month after Elon Musk accused “certain oligarchs” of blocking the company’s entry into India.
The government has yet to decide on spectrum allocation and pricing, and all three players have yet to fulfil the security requirements. The Ministry of Communications rejected the claim the following day. “A post is being circulated in social media regarding the fairness of India’s regulatory framework for satellite communication services and suggesting that it is being applied in a discriminatory manner… “The Department of Telecom has issued licences to all satcom companies as well as provisional spectrum. Now the issue is pending with MHA for security clearance. As soon as it is cleared, they will get it.
Two steps thus remain before services can roll out at scale, officials said. The sources said the ecosystem as a whole would benefit once both conditions are met. It said India has a “fair, non-discriminatory authorisation framework” for all telecom services, including satellite communication. “Under the terms and conditions of licence, every such licensee is required to demonstrate compliance with security conditions,” the ministry said. As such, the suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived,” the ministry said. Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said at the time that the matter rested with the Ministry of Home Affairs and was not specific to any one company. It has nothing to do with one company,” Pemmasani told reporters on the sidelines of the India Mobile Congress. Starlink has said it is ready to launch in India. Speaking at the India Mobile Congress on October 7, Lauren Dreyer, SpaceX’s vice president for Starlink business operations, said, “We’ve built our Starlink operations specifically for India in recognition of Indian security requirements and other regulations, establishing controls at every layer for India, and keeping Indian user data within India.”
