Scindia: Government to soon allocate spectrum to satcom players

NEW DELHI: Satellite communication services will be rolled out in the country after players in the segment, including Elon Musk-owned Starlink, comply with the demands of security agencies, Union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said.

He said govt will soon be in a position to allocate spectrum to satcom players — Starlink, Eutelsat One, and Jio SGS — once department of telecom (DoT) finalises spectrum pricing.

“There are two issues that need to be addressed. One by the licence holders OneWeb, Reliance Jio, and Starlink, which is to comply with security clearances regarding international gateways, ensuring data remains in India, and so on,” Scindia said.

The minister added that the government has already allocated provisional spectrum to satcom companies to demonstrate compliance capability with security agencies.

“They are in the process of doing that, so they need to comply,” Scindia said. He noted that government is in the process of finalising spectrum pricing, which is being dealt with by DoT and Trai. “Hopefully that should be resolved soon,” Scindia said.