Why Starlink’s India troubles signal the next big battle for space internet

Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, uses satellites to offer internet services and has been in the news this week after Indian security forces seized the company’s device in strife-torn Manipur. This is the second such incident in recent weeks. Earlier this month, another Starlink device was discovered during a maritime drug bust.

Reacting to a user’s post on X about Starlink being used by “terrorists,” Musk denied the company’s involvement, stating that Starlink’s satellite internet is not active in India.

From its role in the Russia-Ukraine war to its contentious bid to enter India’s satellite communication market, Musk’s Starlink has sparked debates on national security, regulatory policies, and global geopolitics.

That is why Starlink is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.

Starlink satellites rule the sky
Satellite communication refers to any communication that uses satellites in space. A satellite receives signals from a station on Earth, amplifies them, and sends them back to another station on Earth. This is particularly beneficial for providing coverage to remote and geographically inaccessible areas.

The trajectory of a satellite around the Earth is known as orbit. The most common orbits are Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), and Geostationary Satellite Orbit (GSO). GSO satellites, located about 36,000 kilometres above the Earth, are typically used for weather monitoring and Direct-To-Home (DTH) television broadcasting. MEO satellites operate at altitudes between 8,000 and 20,000 kilometres, while LEO altitudes are positioned between 400 and 2,000 kilometres above the Earth.

While GSO satellites remain largely stationary, LEO and MEO satellites move across the sky during their orbit. Hence, operators deploy a large number of satellites, called ‘constellations’, to provide continuous service from these altitudes.

Starlink, which is yet to obtain a licence to operate satellite services in India, is the “world’s first and largest satellite constellation” using LEO satellites to deliver broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, video calls, and more, according to its website.

Starlink notes that most satellite internet services rely on single geostationary satellites orbiting the planet at 35,786 km. As a result, the round-trip data time between the user and satellite—known as latency—is high, making it nearly impossible to support high-bandwidth activities like streaming, online gaming, or video calls.

Starlink boasts a significantly lower latency of around 25 milliseconds compared to over 600 milliseconds for traditional systems. This is because its constellation of thousands of satellites orbits much closer to Earth, at about 550 km, and covers the entire globe.

With services going live in Sierra Leone, Africa, in June 2024, Starlink is now operational in 100 countries. The company is also in the process of obtaining a licence to offer satellite communication services in India, where it will compete with Eutelsat OneWeb—majority-owned by Bharti Enterprises—Reliance Industries’ JioSpaceFiber, and Amazon’s Kuiper Systems.

As of November 2024, there are 6,764 Starlink satellites in orbit, of which 6,714 are operational. A Starlink satellite has a lifespan of approximately five years, and SpaceX eventually hopes to deploy as many as 42,000 satellites in this so-called megaconstellation. By comparison, Eutelsat OneWeb’s satellite network features more than 630 satellites operating at around 1,200 km in LEO.

Bidding war, security concerns
Although Starlink has yet to launch services in India, it has been at the centre of debates on satellite communications in the country.

In October this year, Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia clarified that spectrum for satellite communication services would be allocated administratively rather than through auction. Elon Musk welcomed this news, posting on X:, “Much appreciated! We will do our best to serve the people of India with Starlink.” However, this decision put him at odds with Indian billionaires Sunil Bharti Mittal and Mukesh Ambani, who supported auctioning the spectrum.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio wrote to Scindia advocating for auctioning satellite broadband spectrum, a move Musk described as “unprecedented” since spectrum is administratively allocated globally. Reliance Jio’s stance was supported by Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, who argued, “They need to buy the spectrum just as telecom companies buy. They need to pay the licence fees and also secure their networks like telecom companies do.”

As of now, there has been no official communication on granting satellite communication licences to Starlink. Last month, Scindia confirmed that Starlink was in the process of obtaining security clearance, which requires compliance with India’s data storage and satellite signal security requirements.

Starlink has faced criticism in India due to concerns over its ties with US intelligence and military agencies, which some argue could threaten national interests. Terming Starlink “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” think tank Kutniti Foundation said in a recent report that Starlink is a dual-use technology with its “biggest customer and promoter being the American government intelligence and military.”

Musk’s SpaceX is reportedly building a network of spy satellites under a classified contract with a US intelligence agency and has previously clashed with the Joe Biden administration over Starlink’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Starlink has played a crucial role in Ukraine’s strategy during the ongoing war. In 2022, hours before Russia’s attack, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov reached out to Musk on X, requesting the activation of Starlink’s broadband services, to which Musk agreed. However, later reports suggested that Russia allegedly procured Starlink terminals and used them in occupied Ukraine. In February 2024, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief acknowledged that Russian troops had been using Starlink’s terminals “for quite a long time.” ThePrint