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Satellite internet
Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications hold every licence India requires for satellite internet, and none of them has launched. The technology is settled: a dish, a constellation overhead, and a gateway that hands the traffic to the ordinary internet. What is not settled is where that traffic would be routed and on what security terms. India assigns satellite spectrum administratively rather than by auction.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2023: countries with their own satellite navigation system
- Prelims 2018: the orbits of the IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System) satellites
How the service reaches a user
- A user's dish sends a radio signal to a passing low Earth orbit satellite, which relays it to a satellite earth station gateway that hands it to the ordinary internet.
- No cable has to be laid to the user, which is why the service reaches homes that terrain or distance puts beyond a ground network.
Who may sell it, and on what spectrum
- Selling satellite voice and data in India needs a GMPCS licence from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and an authorisation from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).
- India auctions the spectrum for terrestrial mobile networks, where an operator buys an exclusive block of frequencies in a service area.
- The Telecommunications Act, 2023 instead lists satellite based services among the uses for which spectrum is assigned administratively, on terms the government sets.
The conditions an operator accepts
- DoT's guidelines require data localisation, gateways on Indian soil, a lawful blocking mechanism, restriction of services during hostilities, and separate security clearance for voice and data.
- An operator must reach 20 per cent indigenisation of its ground segment within five years of commercial service.
- User terminals must carry Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) positioning by 2029.
What has happened
22 Aug 2026
Starlink's Indian launch remained stalled, with every licence in hand, over where its users' traffic would be routed.
- Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications all hold a GMPCS licence and IN-SPACe authorisation, and none has been cleared to begin service.
- The worry is that a foreign operator could route Indian traffic through gateways outside India, leaving the government no hold over the service.