Starlink’s India entry comes with firewall: No mirroring, no offshore routing  

Elon Musk-backed Starlink has received government approval to operate in India, but only after agreeing to tough security requirements that keep all Indian user data within the country. 

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) granted the satellite internet company a Unified License (UL) once it accepted the terms.

“The security conditions, inter-alia, include the establishment of earth station gateway(s) in India for providing satellite-based communication services with no user traffic originating from or destined for India to be routed through any gateway located outside India, no copying and decryption of the Indian data outside the country, and the Indian user traffic is not to be mirrored to any system/server located abroad,” Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar told news agency PTI.  

The conditions, applicable to all satcom operators, require Starlink to route signals through earth station gateways set up within India. The government had also sought the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) input on spectrum assignment, including pricing, before clearing the license. Trai gave its recommendations on May 9.  

Sekhar noted the new sector’s potential beyond connectivity. “Satellite-based communication services are an upcoming area and, as any new economic activity would do, it is also expected to generate employment in the country, as it involves, inter alia, the installation, operation and maintenance of the telecom network, including user terminal equipment,” he said.