Musk may fume, but Starlink’s India clearance hinges on safeguards

Amid Elon Musk’s criticism of Indian business houses over what he alleged was an attempt to block Starlink’s entry into India, the company’s commercial launch remains contingent on the government being satisfied that it can comply with domestic traffic-routing rules, lawful interception requirements and directions to restrict services in specified geographical areas.

These security conditions extend beyond the establishment of ground infrastructure in India.

The issue has come into focus after Starlink said it had built around 20 gateway sites in India and incorporated the country’s security requirements into its proposed operations. Lauren Dreyer, vice-president of Starlink Business Operations at SpaceX, said at the India Mobile Congress on 7 October that the company had established controls at every layer of its Indian operations and would keep Indian user data within the country.

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For Indian authorities, however, the presence of domestic gateways and a commitment to data localisation do not, by themselves, establish compliance with all the conditions governing satellite communications services. The outstanding questions concern how traffic originating from or terminating at Indian user terminals is routed, whether prescribed interception arrangements can be implemented and whether service restrictions can be enforced within the required geographical boundaries.

A central technical issue is Starlink’s use of inter-satellite links (ISLs), which allow satellites to communicate directly with one another rather than routing every connection through a ground station. These links can improve network efficiency and reduce dependence on ground infrastructure. They also raise regulatory questions about whether traffic associated with Indian users could pass through the satellite network before reaching a gateway outside India.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in its recommendations on satellite communications in May 2025, raised concerns about the possibility of inter-satellite links allowing traffic to bypass authorised gateways in India. Starlink’s network uses inter-satellite laser links to transfer data between satellites, making the implementation of domestic routing requirements an important issue for the security assessment.