After a long regulatory road with a grueling compliance test to show its readiness for commercial service across the country, now the Starlink satellite internet service has big aims for the fast-growing digital market in India.
On June 6, an important permit was granted to Starlink by the DoT, restricting it to be the third operator allowed for the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) license in India along with the others.
Having received the DoT license, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN‑SPACe) issued a draft Letter of Intent. This should be formally signed anytime now, and it shall complete Starlink’s regulatory boarding pass into India.
Though the clearing had been given by the telecom and space regulators, Starlink appears to be left with a few finishing touches before commencement of commercial operations:
Under Indian law, all satellite internet traffic has to be routed through Indian ground infrastructure located within India.
The trial spectrum should ideally be allocated by the DoT in the shortest possible time. This spectrum would allow Starlink to carry out real-life system tests, in line with Indian security norms.
Starlink has to actually show that the ground systems and network, locally end-to-end, satisfy the prescribed standards of Indian security agencies and, until that time, cannot roll out actual service.
Similar to other regional players, OneWeb and Jio Satellite have also been delayed for almost two years for those security clearances, even while holding the requisite permits since 2021–22.
These are some of the impediments that the government of India has brought up against Starlink in remote border regions, particularly in the Northeast, due to the unregulated deployment of terminals having very limited data sharing. This has led the Ministry of Home Affairs to seek a review of Starlink's practices through the DoT earlier this year.
Starlink must adhere to the following, as per Indian law:
Route all data through Indian gateways
Put up buffer zones near international borders
Enable lawful interception capabilities within the territory of India
After the sign-off of IN‑SPACe's draft Letter of Intent, the following will need to be accomplished by Starlink with the generic time frames in parentheses:
Seeking and obtaining test spectrum (could take weeks),
Performing compliance trials,
Obtaining security and telecom regulator sign-offs, and
Implementing the ground infrastructure network.
Once it becomes functional, Starlink promises to be a driver in the provision of internet access across India, primarily to the remotest, rural, and underserved market.
Currently, with 40% of the population without broadband access, there lies the potential for satellite internet to carry forward the remedial program under consideration.
Critical regulatory milestones have been achieved in India for Starlink to build its infrastructure requirements and to obtain spectrum along with security and compliance requirements.
As regulations fall into place and ground trials commence, India might soon witness its very first commercial satellite broadband service, a landmark for the national connectivity regime. The official launch, however, would be a few months away by now.