India ready to welcome every satcom player as long as they check all the boxes: Scindia on Starlink's entry

India is ready to welcome every satellite communication player as long as they check all the boxes, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told CNN-NEWS18 about Starlink's entry into the country.

"India will be largest satcom market in the world. We have highest level of penetration and connectivity. Satcom not a competitor, it is a compliment. It enables you to reach where no technology can reach. It will be vital in natural disasters where normal communication is down. It is addition to bouquet of communication capabilities. This (Starlink) is the third license being given out in India, others also in queue. Spectrum to be given on a administratively assigned system, price to be determined by regulatory authority," said Scindia.

Starlink is the third company to get a licence from Department of Telecommunications, which has approved similar applications by Eutelsat's OneWeb and Reliance Jio to provide services in the country.

India's telecom regulator in May proposed satellite service providers pay 4% of their annual revenue to the government for offering services.