Musk's Starlink yet to comply with security norms: Scindia

NEW DELHI: Telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said Elon Musk-owned Starlink is yet to comply with security norms, and a licence for satellite communication services will be issued only after they meet all the requirements for services in India.

The satellite communication services major is in the process of completing all the requirements and will get a licence once they complete the process, the minister said.

“We are more than happy to give them (licence) if they (Starlink) comply with all the conditions. You have to look at it from a security perspective, making sure that all security concerns are addressed. When they do that we will be more than happy to give it. Obviously, they are in the process of doing it,” Scindia said.

He was replying to a question on the status of the licence for Starlink. At present, govt has issued a licence to Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and the Jio-SES joint venture Jio Satellite Communications. The two companies are yet to start their operations as they are waiting for spectrum allocation, for which pricing and rules are under process.

According to sources, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is likely to finalise its recommendation on proposed rules related to spectrum allocation for satellite communications by Dec 15.