MC EXCLUSIVE Starlink gets nod for satellite internet services in India, LoI issued by DoT: Sources

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is expected to release recommendations on satellite spectrum pricing soon

Elon Musk’s Starlink has received government approval to operate satellite internet services in India, with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) issuing a letter of intent (LoI) after the company agreed to comply with licensing conditions critical to national security, government sources told Moneycontrol.

“Yes, Starlink has been issued LoI by the Dot for GMPCS, VSAT and ISP licenses in India...the LoI came after it gave an undertaking to meet license conditions and security protocols under the new revised security guidelines...the final license will be given once Starlink is able to fulfil all license conditions," a government source said.

With the LoI, it will now be able to demo its services in a manner similar to OneWeb, which has been providing its offerings to the defence sector under a pilot program. "The In-SPACe authorisation will also be given soon," the source added.

A query sent to SpaceX didn't elicit any response.

Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani told reporters on 6 May that Starlink’s application was in the final stages of approval.

On April 16, Starlink's India market access director Parnil Urdhwareshe, vice president of business operations Chad Gibbs, and senior director for global licensing and market activation Ryan Goodnight met with Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal to expedite the approval process and outline plans for expanding operations in India.

The LoI to Starlink came just a day after the government tightened security regulations for satellite internet providers, mandating data localisation, lawful interception capabilities, gateway security clearance, and local manufacturing requirements.

With this approval, Starlink will join Eutelsat, OneWeb, and the Jio-SES joint venture in India’s growing satellite internet space.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper is still awaiting its LoI, and sources indicate the application is still being processed. "For Kuiper, the wait is slightly longer. Their application is currently under process at the DoT," a person privy to the matter told Moneycontrol.

Starlink notably applied for the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence in 2022. With the Letter of Intent (LoI) now secured, the company must establish earth station gateways—ground-based infrastructure that links satellites to local terrestrial networks.

According to its website, Starlink operates the world’s largest satellite constellation, comprising over 6,750 satellites in orbit and delivering high-speed, low-latency internet to millions of users worldwide.

SpaceX's Starlink recently partnered with Reliance Jio and Airtel. Both companies will distribute Starlink services through their retail and online channels, stock equipment in physical stores, and establish customer service to install and activate its high-speed satellite internet services in India, particularly in rural and remote areas.

This collaboration between telcos and Starlink signals a shift from competition to cooperation in satellite broadband, which will benefit all stakeholders.

Explained: Satcom set to transform connectivity landscape with Starlink pacts with Jio, Airtel

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is expected to release recommendations on satellite spectrum pricing soon, paving the way for commercial satellite broadband services from these players.

Analysts believe Starlink’s satellite-based broadband service may not gain mainstream adoption in India in the medium term due to its prohibitively high pricing, particularly for rural markets.

READ MORE: Starlink’s high prices likely to keep India a niche market for satellite broadband

Analysts said the high pricing will likely position it as a premium service, complementary to FWA and fiber services, mainly for small business users. They added that the service is priced 10-14 times higher than offerings from major broadband providers Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, making it difficult for low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite providers to compete without government subsidies.

Pemmasani also played down concerns about Starlink’s impact on India’s telecom and satellite communication market on May 6.

“This [Starlink] mainly connects remote areas where traditional networks will be hard to reach. That is number one. And number two is mainly for inside the home and not for mobile. People are so scared, they will take away all the market and all this stuff. That is not true. There should not be any worry,” Pemmasani said, adding that their service and hardware costs are high.

The minister also noted that Starlink has fewer than 50 lakh subscribers globally and is unlikely to disrupt the Indian market significantly.

Notably, satcom operators such as OneWeb recently wrote to the DoT Secretary Neeraj Mittal, urging swift approval to begin commercial services under the already assigned provisional spectrum.

They emphasized that this move would accelerate service rollout, optimize resource utilization, and align with national priorities—without compromising government revenue.

"In the absence of frequency allocation, there has been a delay in service rollout, creating a significant opportunity cost for both the consumers as well as the industry. In fact, a few NGSO operators have already obtained all the necessary clearances, including licenses from DoT and authorizations from IN-SPACe, for provisioning foreign satellite capacity in India, with some licenses having been issued over three years ago, and the first IN-SPACe authorization around 18 months ago," Broadband India Forum (BIF) stated in its April 21 letter to the DoT Secretary.

BIF represents satellite operators like OneWeb, Kuiper and Hughes and big tech companies like Google and Meta.

The operators further noted that the continued delays are depriving the country of a crucial chance to connect underserved areas and leading to underutilised satellite assets and mounting financial pressure on service providers.