New Delhi: India's satellite broadband market has three licensees, a pricing formula nearly ready for Cabinet, and no commercial service. The hold-up is a set of security clearances that the Ministry of Home Affairs has not yet issued to any of the three.
OneWeb India Communications, JIO Satellite Communications and Starlink Satellite Communications all hold Unified Licences with a GMPCS authorisation. Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said all three sit at the same stage: "There are three parties that have got a licence... when they individually fulfil the security conditions, they can start operations."
The conditions under evaluation are not cosmetic. Officials are looking at data localisation, gateway access and terminal security, the levers that keep a foreign operator answerable to Indian law. Starlink terminals are small and portable, and unregistered sets have turned up in conflict zones and grey markets elsewhere.
The dispute turned public when Elon Musk wrote on X that unnamed "oligarchs" were blocking Starlink, and followed it with a post asking whether Reliance's Mukesh Ambani, rather than the prime minister, runs India. Reliance said it welcomes competition and that every player must serve Indians and follow Indian law. Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal said he had applied five years earlier and was ahead in the queue. In August, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre rejected a Starlink clearance request over security concerns.
Meanwhile the money question is nearly settled. The Cabinet is expected to approve the Digital Communications Commission's recommendation of a spectrum usage charge of 5 per cent of adjusted gross revenue, with a one percentage point cut for government-notified hard-to-connect and remote border areas. Telcos had asked for an urban levy of ₹500 per user on satcom players; that was rejected.
Price may settle the argument faster than policy. Starlink's annual plan for 50-200 Mbps was priced at ₹2,15,600 last year, roughly 10 to 14 times what major Indian broadband providers charge, in a market that counts every rupee.