SpaceX Gets Approval To Sell Starlink In India (behindtheblack.com)
(Friday May 09, 2025 @05:30AM (BeauHD)
from the red-light-green-light dept.)
- Reference: 0177395505
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/09/0130212/spacex-gets-approval-to-sell-starlink-in-india
- Source link: https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/spacex-gets-approval-to-sell-starlink-in-india/
[1]schwit1 shares a report from Behind The Black:
> Almost immediately after India's government [2]issued this week new tightened regulations for allowing private satellite constellations to sell their services in India, it also apparently [3]completed negotiations with SpaceX to [4]allow it to sell Starlink in India based on these rules. Business Today reports: "According to sources, the DoT [Department of Transportation] granted the LoI [Letter of Intent] after Starlink accepted 29 strict security conditions, including requirements for real-time terminal tracking, mandatory local data processing, legal interception capabilities, and localisation of at least 20% of its ground segment infrastructure within the first few years of operation.
>
> Starlink's nod came amid heightened national security sensitivities, coinciding with India's pre-dawn Operation Sindoor strikes on terror camps across the border in response to the Pahalgam massacre. However, DoT officials clarified that the decision to approve Starlink was independent of these military developments." At the moment SpaceX's chief competitors, OneWeb and Amazon's Kuiper constellation, have not yet obtained the same permissions. This allows SpaceX to grab a large portion of the market share in India before either of these other companies.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~schwit1
[2] https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/india-tightens-its-satellite-regulations-for-foreign-companies/
[3] https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/elon-musks-starlink-gets-govt-nod-in-india-for-satcom-service-what-it-means-for-users-pricing-and-more-475225-2025-05-08
[4] https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/spacex-gets-approval-to-sell-starlink-in-india/
> Almost immediately after India's government [2]issued this week new tightened regulations for allowing private satellite constellations to sell their services in India, it also apparently [3]completed negotiations with SpaceX to [4]allow it to sell Starlink in India based on these rules. Business Today reports: "According to sources, the DoT [Department of Transportation] granted the LoI [Letter of Intent] after Starlink accepted 29 strict security conditions, including requirements for real-time terminal tracking, mandatory local data processing, legal interception capabilities, and localisation of at least 20% of its ground segment infrastructure within the first few years of operation.
>
> Starlink's nod came amid heightened national security sensitivities, coinciding with India's pre-dawn Operation Sindoor strikes on terror camps across the border in response to the Pahalgam massacre. However, DoT officials clarified that the decision to approve Starlink was independent of these military developments." At the moment SpaceX's chief competitors, OneWeb and Amazon's Kuiper constellation, have not yet obtained the same permissions. This allows SpaceX to grab a large portion of the market share in India before either of these other companies.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~schwit1
[2] https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/india-tightens-its-satellite-regulations-for-foreign-companies/
[3] https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/elon-musks-starlink-gets-govt-nod-in-india-for-satcom-service-what-it-means-for-users-pricing-and-more-475225-2025-05-08
[4] https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/spacex-gets-approval-to-sell-starlink-in-india/
india has jio so... (Score:2)
why would a government approve this apart from bribes ?
this was in my onion a bad choice they have plenty of talent and technically literate why would you choose russian or american solutions...
Re: (Score:2)
I don't pay all that much attention to these things, but from what I've read they wouldn't be the first country to sign a Starlink contract in the apparent hope that being nice to Elon will make the trade war easier on them. If so, yes, bribery.
Re: (Score:2)
Bribes to the U.S. gov. in form of buttering Elmo's backside AND the ability to spy on their own citizens to prevent themselves from being unelected in the next election. Win-win. And, Elmo can now come back and punt the same Nazi policy to the U.S. junta. The U.S. junta will gleefully sign up, win-win-win-win. The U.S. junta will never get tired of all this winning.