Centre refutes Elon Musk’s Starlink allegations, says all satellite operators face the same rules

The Centre on Thursday rejected SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Muskrsquos allegation that Starlink was being blocked in India by ldquocertain oligarchsrdquo calling the claim ldquobaseless and misconceivedrdquo and asserting that the countryrsquos regulatory framework for satellite communication services is fair and nondiscriminatoryThe Ministry of Communications said all telecom operators providing satellite communication services are required to meet the same licensing and security conditions before they can proceed to the spectrum assignment stageGovt says all satellite operators face same processResponding to Muskrsquos post on X the ministry said India has established a common authorisation framework for telecommunications services including satellite communicationldquoUnder this telecom licences have been granted to three Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite services based on nongeosynchronous satellite orbitbased satellite communications as part of its commitment to enable provision of satellite communication services in Indiardquo the ministry saidThe three licensed entities are Starlink Satellite Communications Jio Satellite Communications and OneWeb India Communications The government had earlier confirmed that all three had received authorisation to provide GMPCS services in the countrySecurity clearances still underwayThe ministry said licensing is not the final step before commercial satellite services can begin Each licensee must demonstrate compliance with specified security requirements before proceeding furtherldquoMoreover under the terms and conditions of licences every such licensee is required to demonstrate compliance with security conditionsrdquo the government saidldquoThis is aimed at ensuring that services provided meet various security requirements to ensure the safety of all users and their data Security assessment as part of this process is currently underway in respect of all the three licenseesrdquo it addedSpectrum assignment comes after clearancesAccording to the ministry a licensed entity can proceed to seek spectrum assignment after completing the required security assessmentldquoAt present all the three entities are at broadly the same regulatory stage As such the suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceivedrdquo it saidThe governmentrsquos explanation follows earlier official disclosures that Starlink Jio Satellite and OneWeb India had received licences while their services remain subject to regulatory and security requirementsMusk alleges lsquomonopolistic chokeholdrsquoThe governmentrsquos response came a day after Musk alleged that Starlink was being ldquoblocked by certain oligarchsrdquo in India to protect their ldquomonopolistic chokeholdrdquo over the countryrsquos telecommunications marketWith inputs from IANS