Elon Musk’s Starlink has moved a step closer to launching its satellite communication services in India, having reportedly secured a Letter of Intent (LoI) from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The conditional green light follows Starlink’s agreement to comply with the Centre’s new national security guidelines for satcom operators.
According to The Economic Times, Starlink accepted the 29-point security framework, which includes local data hosting, interception capabilities, location tracking, and other surveillance protocols. However, two contentious proposals—monitoring user terminals near borders and mandating majority Indian ownership—were dropped. The former was deemed inconsistent with the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and the latter clashed with India’s existing 100% FDI policy.
This move places Starlink ahead of competitors like Eutelsat OneWeb (backed by Bharti Enterprises) and Jio-SES, which currently have approval only for fixed satcom services, while Starlink is expected to roll out mobility services under the GMPCS licence.
Before launching commercially, Starlink must now secure additional clearance from IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre) and await spectrum allocation, for which TRAI is expected to soon issue pricing recommendations.
Notably, Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Apple’s partner Globalstar are also pursuing satcom licenses, indicating growing interest in India’s satellite internet market. Starlink has already partnered with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, signaling its readiness to enter the competitive space.
