Starlink addressing govt concerns for India operations: Jyotiraditya Scindia

The government is “happy to give” a licence to Elon Musk's Starlink as long as it complies with conditions laid down for offering the service in India and addresses security concerns, Union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday.

“They (Starlink) are in the process of addressing the (security) concerns, and they have to check all the boxes," Scindia said in a media briefing, noting that the SpaceX-owned satellite broadband provider's application was under process. He did not elaborate on the security concerns the Indian government has raised with Starlink.

Indian telecom players Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd are resisting Starlink's entry into the Indian satellite broadband market on the grounds that the US-based firm's direct-to-consumer service will compete with their retail services, distorting the level-playing field. The spectrum allocation for satellite broadband has been at the centre of the ongoing tussle between the two sides.

Also Read: Advantage Musk, Starlink as Trump prepares for second tenure

Starlink has sought administrative spectrum allocation, and the Indian carriers have cited ‘same service, same rules’ as the benchmark for spectrum allocation.

The 'same service, same rules' principle refers to the idea that telecom operators and any other company that offers similar services as wireless carriers should be regulated in the same way. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is currently deciding on the method of spectrum allocation for satellite broadband services in the country. Indian operators and Starlink publicly stated these views including during an open-house discussion by Trai last week.

In response to questions on granting waiver on bank guarantees of ₹27,000 crore sought by Vodafone Idea, Scindia said that any assistance that has to be given will not be company-specific but will be ‘sectoral’.

“The sector has received a tremendous amount of boost from the government over the last two-and-a-half years. We have four players in the market, which is necessary from a sectoral point of view. The customer must have a choice. All the assistance given till now has been given from a sectoral point of view, except for BSNL,” he said.

The minister added that BSNL had set up 50,000 radio access network sites for 4G and all 100,000 sites are expected to be up by May or June 2025. He added that some of the sites would be 5G-enabled by the middle of next year. On relief sought by Vodafone Idea on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) calculations, the minister said the Supreme Court verdict "stands as is" and that if the government were to take a decision, it would be notified at the appropriate time.

Also Read: Why Reliance Jio is upset over India's satellite broadband plan

On the question of whether telecom service providers will be asked to remove Chinese equipment from legacy networks, Scindia said security cannot be compromised, and the security checks were there for all networks, but replacement of legacy networks will be "evaluated at a later time". “At this point of time, the trusted source system is fully in place,” he said.

And whether a stand has been taken on the demand of telecom operators to get a share of revenues from OTT players, the minister said the government will hear the views of the carriers through the advisory committee mechanism set up by the minister, but noted that the telecom regulator will take a view on the matter. “They’ve also circulated a consultation paper on the issue,” he said.

Scindia added that the ministry has not held any discussions with banks that have pending loans with state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and that the lenders will have to take the issue up with the company. He, however, clarified that any government debt will be sovereign backed and continues to be guaranteed of payments.

Also Read: Starlink takes a step closer to India

According to Scindia, for improving the quality of service for consumers, the government as well as Trai had taken several steps over the last few weeks, including tightening call drop monitoring norms from quarterly to monthly basis, and monitoring the quality-of-service parameters at the cell level instead of the tower level. The changes, along with some financial penalties in case of non-compliance, will come into effect from April 2025.