Much has been talked about the tragic events of April 22, when 26 civilians were murdered in Pahalgam, which led to tense clashes between India and Pakistan and a war-like situation. For its part, India unleashed its defence tech and drone capabilities, which made developments related to satellite technology the talk of the town.

Well, it is said that intelligence agencies detected satellite phone signals active in the area during the attack. Quite concerning, isn’t it?

However, this isn’t a standalone incident.

In December, Elon Musk’s Starlink came under scrutiny, as a Starlink device was allegedly detected in conflict-hit Manipur. In November, reports emerged that Myanmarese smugglers were found using the company’s satellite internet hardware near the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Of course, Musk refuted the claims. Cut to the present day, he, quite interestingly, is preparing for a full-fledged official launch of his satellite communication (satcom) services in India.

This raises a string of questions — What does the rise of satcom mean for India? How is India placed on the regulatory front? And finally, what role do startups have in the game of satellites?

Let’s dive deep, fathom by fathom…

Why Is Satcom Critical For Bharat?

India’s pitch to double down on its satcom efforts is simple — rural development.

In 2022, the then Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, announced that the government wanted to connect 1.2 Bn Indians to the internet directly via personal devices by 2025–26.

This is where satcom holds a notable advantage. Well, giving the internet to people in the remotest of villages or lands, where mobile towers cannot be installed, is now possible.

In terrestrial communication, latency and bandwidth have long been a challenge which, as per the government, can be addressed by satcom to accelerate development across India.

Speaking to Inc42, Prafulla Kumar Jain, director, Programme Management and Authorisation Directorate (IN-SPACe), said, “It was always known that satellites have their innate strength of reaching the inaccessible areas. But, in the past, terrestrial and satellite telecom struggled to go........

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