Musk’s satellite business Starlink gets in-principle government nod

NEW DELHI: Days before he comes calling on India and PM Narendra Modi, Elon Musk‘s satcom venture Starlink has been given an in-principle approval from the telecom ministry, clearing the critical hurdle after almost three-and-a-half years of back and forth.
The file now lies at the desk of communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who is waiting for final vetting by the home ministry over certain security matters, highly-placed sources told TOI.
“The commercial part has been examined on issues, such as, foreign investment and net worth. The essential examination shows that it (Starlink’s application) is in line with the (official) guidelines. Thus, it has been approved,” one of the sources said. “The technical requirements have been examined as per the licence conditions,” the source said, adding, the company has also submitted a “declaration” regarding its ownership.

“The ownership issue had been a serious one and govt wanted to make sure that the company has no stakeholder from a country that shares land border with India. That would’ve raised a red flag. The matter is sorted now after the declaration,” the source said. The telecom ministry has also mandated that the KYC details and customer information of Indian users should not move outside the country.
On security aspects, govt needs undertaking from the company that traffic over Indian airspace as well as waters should only terminate at a local gateway. “Also, the data beams from satellites should only land in India and not end up on foreign shores due to movement of satellites,” the source said, adding, the company has “assured” authorities that it “has a solution to tackle” this matter.
Once the file is approved by Vaishnaw, the company will get global mobile personal communication by satellite (GMPCS) services licence, which is a must for anyone looking to offer satellite communication services in India. One Web (where Bharti Airtel’s Sunil Mittal has a stake) and Mukesh Ambani’s Jio (in partnership with Luxembourg-based SES) have already got GMPCS licence (even though the manner of spectrum allocation and its pricing is yet to be finalised by regulator Trai).