India is opening its satellite market, but wants room for local players

India is considering a single-window system to speed up satellite approvals while preparing rules to prevent global NGSO operators from making it harder for local constellations to enter the market

India is preparing to open its satellite communications market to global operators, but it is also looking at rules that could prevent the companies entering first from gaining too much control over how the market develops.

 

The Indian government is considering a single-window clearance system for the space sector, with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) and space regulator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) having already discussed an inter-departmental interface. The proposed system is aimed at reducing repetitive approvals and shortening the time taken by companies to secure clearances from different departments, according to an ET Telecom report.

 

At the same time, officials tell ET Telecom that the DoT is likely to require global satcom operators to coordinate with Indian constellations before they can secure spectrum. This would show up in the department's upcoming draft spectrum assignment rules for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) players. The idea is to stop foreign operators who got to India first, and therefore hold better orbital slots, from using that position to block Indian rivals through simple non-cooperation.

Why a single window is even necessary

Getting a satcom business approved in India currently means dealing with a stack of departments. Apart from DoT, MIB and IN-SPACe, the Department of Space, the ministries of home and external affairs, and law enforcement agencies are all consulted depending on what is being approved. For satellite communication services of the kind Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio's satellite venture want to offer, an inter-ministerial security approval is also required.

 

"Getting approvals from different ministries and departments takes a lot of time and sometimes it becomes repetitive," a second official told ET Telecom. The plan, as things stand, is to start by routing IN-SPACe approvals through the single-window system, with other ministries integrated later.

 

That demand has also come directly from industry executives. At an interaction hosted by IN-SPACe with space startups and technology companies in June 2026, before Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, the sector pushed for a single-window clearance system to cut bureaucratic delays.

 

According to a report by Silicon India, IN-SPACe Chairman Pawan Goenka said that the recommendations that emerged from the roundtable on what the industry is looking for from the government include the concern that we still do not have a truly single window system.

 

“Some of the current regulations, like export clearance, result in delaying the process. Sometimes, they have a time-bound dispatch for satellites. The clearances don’t come and they miss their slot. How we make that process faster is another concern,” Goenka said.

The coordination clause

The second track is less about speed and more about sequencing power. So far, Starlink, Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, and Jio's joint venture with Luxembourg-based SES, Orbit Connect India, have secured authorisation from IN-SPACe and a permit from the DoT for their NGSO constellations. None of them has security clearance yet, and none has been allocated spectrum. Amazon's Leo constellation has applied but has not secured approval from either IN-SPACe or the DoT.

 

Under the international frequency coordination framework by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the operator that registers a satellite network first generally gets first claim on a given orbital slot and frequency band. Later entrants then have to adjust their own systems, including satellite tilt angles and ground receivers, to avoid interference, a process that requires cooperation from the incumbent.

This is the scenario the DoT is trying to pre-empt. Global players such as Starlink have been pursuing regulatory approval in India for longer and have an edge in securing preferred orbital slots. If India's own NGSO ambitions, led by Jio, come up meaningfully later, an incumbent that declines to coordinate could effectively box out the newer Indian entrant on technical grounds. Building a coordination requirement into the spectrum assignment rules is meant to remove that option.

 

The ITU itself has acknowledged the broader problem created by the growing number of LEO filings. In its sustainable space report from last year, ITU acknowledged that the "first-come, first-served" allocation model is breaking down under the weight of mega-constellation filings.

Where does Jio stand

Jio's existing satellite venture with SES has already received regulatory approvals, but the company is also planning a separate Indian constellation. ET Telecom reported that the architecture and orbital parameters of the planned Jio constellation are being designed to allow it to coexist with another Indian NGSO constellation in the future.

 

Jio's proposed network has also received approval from IN-SPACe. The plan covers about 1,600 satellites, with a proposed capacity of roughly 4.5 to 5 Tbps over India, according to Outlook Business.

Security is a separate part of the equation

The coordination proposal is also separate from the security clearances that Starlink, OneWeb and Jio-SES are still awaiting.

 

Business Standard's earlier reported that Indian officials had raised concerns over the fact that Starlink's constellation operates across political boundaries. The company also has to meet requirements around satellite gateways and lawful interception under Indian rules.

 

The same report noted that concerns among Indian security agencies increased following reports of unauthorised Starlink terminals being used in Iran.

 

ETTelecom also reported that national security is a major reason the government is supporting Indian satellite constellations. The report said satellite communications are viewed as strategically important because the networks operate outside a country's physical boundaries.

 

These concerns do not establish that Starlink would fail to comply with Indian requirements. They explain why security clearance is being treated as a separate gate before commercial operations can begin.