New Delhi: Starlink has set up 20 gateway sites in India and will keep Indian user data within the country, a SpaceX official said Wednesday, as the company waits for spectrum and final security clearance to begin commercial satellite broadband services.
Speaking at the 10th India Mobile Congress, Lauren Dreyer, Vice President, Starlink Business Operations, SpaceX, said the company had built its Indian operations around the country’s security rules. “We’ve built our Starlink operations specifically for India in recognition of Indian security requirements and other regulations, establishing controls at every layer for India and keeping Indian user data within India,” Dreyer said.
“We’ve already made the investment and built the existing ground infrastructure here—20 gateway sites comprising hundreds of antennas—and we’ve established the operations to be ready to serve India,” she said.
Gateways are ground stations that link satellites to the terrestrial internet. Under the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) security conditions for satellite communication (satcom) operators, network traffic and monitoring systems have to be located in India.
Dreyer said Starlink had worked with Indian regulators, industry and operators for five years. “We’re standing ready to serve India once India is ready. We’re ready to work with the government, ready to work with operators, ready to work with industry to this end,” she said.
She said the company had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Airtel and Jio, and was working with state governments “to listen and learn how Starlink might be able to best serve their communities once it’s authorized”. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Meghalaya have signed letters of intent with Starlink.
Dreyer said Starlink has 11,000 satellites in orbit and operates in over 170 countries. “The last mile remains, and it’s the most challenging to connect,” she said. “With Starlink, people can get connected within minutes, not years.”
She referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of universal connectivity. “We’re ready to help Prime Minister Modi achieve his vision of 100 per cent connectivity throughout India — a vision all of our company, including Elon, shares as well,” she said.
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Where approvals stand
Starlink received its Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence from DoT in June 2025, and authorisation from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) on 8 July last year for its first-generation (Gen 1) constellation of 4,408 satellites. The licence allows it to prepare for the market, not to sell services. The company has since re-applied to IN-SPACe for approval of its second-generation (Gen 2) constellation after an earlier application was rejected.
Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications hold permissions, but none can launch without spectrum and the second stage of security clearance. Amazon’s satellite unit is yet to receive its licence.
On 3 September, the Digital Communications Commission (DCC), DoT’s highest decision-making body, approved a spectrum usage charge of 5 per cent of annual adjusted gross revenue (AGR), with 4 per cent for rural and remote areas, and a five-year spectrum tenure that can be extended by two years. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had recommended 4 per cent in May 2025, along with a levy of Rs 500 per urban subscriber a year. Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper had sought a charge below 1 per cent of AGR.
The decision needs ratification by an inter-ministerial panel and then the Cabinet. Starlink, which is wholly owned by SpaceX, will also need foreign direct investment (FDI) approval; OneWeb and Jio Satellite will not.
The government has chosen administrative allocation of satcom spectrum, which Starlink backed, over the auction route sought by Jio and Airtel. In December 2025, Dreyer met Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, after which Musk posted that he was “looking forward to serving India”.
Security concerns
Wednesday’s statement on data and controls comes four months after Bloomberg reported that security agencies under the Ministry of Home Affairs had withheld Starlink’s final clearances. The report cited the use of Starlink terminals in Iran during the war there, though the service is not licensed in that country.
Dreyer denied the report, saying on X that Starlink was in “active and productive discussions” with the government and had set up a separate deployment model for India.
In December 2024, the Army recovered a purported Starlink device along with weapons in Manipur. Musk had then denied claims that Starlink was being used by terrorists in India.
Earlier missions
Dreyer listed SpaceX’s work with Indian agencies. SpaceX launched the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) GSAT-N2 (GSAT-20) communications satellite on a Falcon 9 in November 2024, and carried Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla to and from the International Space Station (ISS) on the Axiom-4 mission in 2025. He was the first Indian to visit the ISS. She said SpaceX had also flown “two dedicated missions and 19 rideshare missions for Indian space companies”.
She asked attendees to write to Starlink’s India team on where the service could be used. “Hopefully next time I address Congress, the government’s good work will have been complete, and Starlink will be authorised and ready,” she said.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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