India Rules for Starlink: Local Manufacturing, Data Localization, Security Cooperation
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is in the process of finalizing the shapes of the satellite spectrum allotment.
This comes as Starlink is going through a security clearance to provide services in the nation, already having formed retail collaborations with competitors Airtel and Jio. (File)
Local production, data localisation, domestic navigation system, blocking mechanism, and law enforcement cooperation these are some of the major requirements that India has set for satellite communication firms like Elon Musk's Starlink, Amazon's Kuiper, Eutelsat OneWeb, and Jio to do business in the country.
According to guidelines announced by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), satcom firms will be required to submit to the government a phased manufacturing plan for each year with a view to indigenisation to a level of at least 20% of their ground segment of the satellite network that is set up at the end of 5 years on commencing commercial operations.
The development comes as Starlink is undergoing a security clearance for providing its services in the nation, having already secured retail partnerships with competitors Airtel and Jio. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is in the process of finalising the contours of the satellite spectrum allocation.
The companies must also provide provisioning of NavIC based positioning systems in their user terminals on "best effort basis," together with a transition plan for rolling out NavIC in a time-bound fashion by 2029. NavIC is India's regional satellite navigation system, equivalent to GPS, which is a global system created by the United States.
Firms will be required to offer real time monitoring to ensure that no user traffic from, or to India is being routed through any gateway outside Indian borders. They will also be required to file an undertaking that they will not replicate and decrypt Indian telecom data outside India.
"Indian user traffic shall not be routed via any Gateway/PoP outside India or any space system, which is not part of satellite/constellation employed for offering service. Indian user traffic shall not be reflected to any system/server outside India," the guidelines stated.
Satcom operators will also need to ensure that their data centres are located within the geographical location of India and shall provide arrangements to offer Domain Name System (DNS) resolution within its borders.
"Such functionalities as lawful interception facility, monitoring/control facility of user terminals, routing of user data traffic, control of equipment in the routing of data traffic etc., of the network control and monitoring centre (or equivalent facility) shall be within India," the guidelines further said.
National security, law enforcement cooperation
Operators would have to apply service restriction to "any individual, group of subscribers or certain geographical areas" during "hostilities," the guidelines stated. These firms would have to obtain clearance ("from security angle") separately for voice service and data service.
Special Monitoring Zones (50 kilometres along international boundary) along territorial boundaries and along coastal boundaries extending to Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ, which is 200 nautical miles) shall be designated for monitoring user activities by designated law enforcement (LEA) and security agencies. Real time information of foreign/unregistered user terminals hooking on to their network from within Indian territory shall have to be furnished by companies to such agencies.
Service providers will deliver real time location information/tracking of user terminals (fixed and mobile) anywhere in Indian territory as and when needed by authorized LEAs/security agencies. It includes provision of Latitude-Longitude information of user terminals as and when needed on a real time basis," the guidelines stated.
