Starlink, the satellite internet company, has received a Letter of Intent (LoI) from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence, marking a major step toward its commercial rollout in India, ETTelecom reported, citing officials.
The LoI was issued after Starlink agreed to comply with a comprehensive set of revised security conditions released by the government earlier this week. These conditions include requirements related to metadata collection, blocking of websites, use of the indigenous NavIC-based positioning system, establishment of local data centres, and phased manufacturing localisation.
Final Clearance Pending from IN-SPACe
Starlink is now awaiting final clearance from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), India’s space regulatory body. The company has already submitted the necessary documentation, and once approved, it is expected to receive test spectrum for service demonstrations.
Once both regulatory approvals are granted, the company is likely to be allocated test spectrum for demonstrating its services, according to officials familiar with the matter, as mentioned in the report.
Permitted to Offer Fixed and Mobility Services
Notably, Starlink is set to become the first satellite communications operator in India permitted to offer both fixed and mobile broadband services. The updated rules now allow mobility for user terminals, with conditions that include mandatory location updates every 2.6 km or one minute, whichever is earlier. Existing licensees like Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio-SES currently hold approvals for fixed services only and will need to seek separate permissions for mobility.
During regulatory consultations, Starlink had raised concerns about two proposed conditions—monitoring terminals 10 km beyond India’s international borders and a mandate for majority Indian ownership. The DoT eventually dropped both clauses, citing legal and policy limitations. The monitoring requirement was deemed inconsistent with the Telegraph Act, while the ownership clause was deferred in favour of existing FDI norms, which allow up to 100 percent foreign investment in telecom under certain conditions.
The company informed the government that it could not monitor terminals or users located outside the sovereign territory of India, according to one of the persons cited in the report.
“While the condition was proposed by law enforcement agencies, the DoT felt it can’t be included as it goes against the Telegraph Act,” a second person was quoted as saying in the report.
Revised Security Guidelines
The revised security guidelines, including 29 new provisions, are applicable to all current and future GMPCS licence holders, including Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Globalstar, Apple’s satcom partner, both of which are eyeing the Indian market.
Startlink will likely offer mobility services along with the GMPCS licence, while Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio-SES will have to seek the permission separately, a second person explained, as per the report.
Starlink has also signed distribution agreements with Indian telecom operators, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, signalling strategic preparations for its commercial launch. These deals followed closely after a high-profile meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Elon Musk in Washington, where satellite communication and technology collaboration were discussed.
The Indian government has so far supported administrative allocation of satellite spectrum, aligning with the views of global players like Starlink and Amazon, while rejecting local telecom operators’ demands for auction-based allocation. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is expected to issue its pricing recommendations for satellite spectrum shortly.
India’s satellite broadband market is projected to witness significant growth, with IN-SPACe estimating the country’s space economy to reach USD 44 billion by 2033, increasing its global market share from 2 percent to 8 percent.
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