Centre Prioritising National Safeguards As Starlink, Other Satcom Players Eye Entry: Report

The Centre is reportedly prioritising national safeguards as global satcom players like Elon Musk-owned Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper are seeking entry into the Indian market.

An ET report, citing officials close to the matter, said that among the measures that the government is planning include setting up of a satcom monitoring facility, with an outlay of INR 900 Cr (around $106 Mn), to track domestic and international satellites operating on Indian skies .

This facility will reserve orbital and spectrum resources for upcoming Indian satellites, especially NGSO (non-geostationary orbit), with a favourable ecosystem to set up gateways in the country that would primarily serve local and global operations, the report added.

“Some of the measures are likely to be announced through the new Telecom Policy, which will create a roadmap for the next five years or by 2030,” an official was quoted as saying in the report.

Also, earlier this month, the department of telecommunications (DoT) brought in force new guidelines to direct satcom operators to transition to indigenous satellite navigation system NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) by 2029. 

The new rules also entrust localisation mandates on existing and potential satcom licensees. By the end of five years of commercial operations, companies will have to indigenise 20% of their ground segment of the satellite network.

Yet another official confirmed that DoT’s decision making body Digital Communications Commission (DCC) has already cleared the proposal for setting up the satellite monitoring facility, as per the report.

(The story will be updated soon.)

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