Elon Set To Enter India With Starlink

Elon Set To Enter India With Starlink: According to the security rules, a satellite communications business operating in India, such as Elon Musk's Starlink, is required to store all of its data domestically.

The company has reportedly agreed with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on meeting the government's data localisation and security requirements, and its satellite broadband services license application in India is to be taken forward.

This was the biggest sticking point in the entire saga of Elon Musk's Starlink and Jeff Bezos' Kuiper's attempt to enter India.

The guidelines related to security require an India-based satellite communications firm to store all data in the country only.

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The report says, however, that Starlink has yet to file its agreement and has to demonstrate how data could be intercepted by intelligence agencies if needed.

Starlink's 2022 application for a GMPCS license is the precursor to acquiring a trial spectrum with a nominal application fee.

It also sought authorisation with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre, the space regulator, which has now gone ahead as well, the report says.

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The services can begin only when the government sets the price and the rules on spectrum allocation that will happen after the recommendations are released by TRAI at the end of December.

This has been said amidst newly elected US President Donald Trump talking about a big role for Elon Musk in his administration, with Musk fully endorsing him and providing funds as well throughout his campaign.

Starlink and Kuiper are currently in a battle with private telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, who have said that only auctioned satellite spectrum should be used for the urban or "retail" consumers to achieve a level playing field since they got their spectrums through auctions in the first place rather than administrative allocations.

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