The Indian government has frozen the deployment of Starlink satellite internet in the country, worried that, that SpaceX will not comply with network control requirements. The reason was an unauthorized connection to the network on the territory of Iran. The government also took into account the experience of Ukraine, where SpaceX single-handedly restricted access to the network in the midst of a war.
The company SpaceX received a license to work in India in 2025 year after long lobbying in New Delhi. However, according to Bloomberg, the Indian side suspended the market entry process thereafter, as it turned out, that Starlink provided network access within Iran, without having legal permission to do so. The Indian government has set requirements for local data storage and network security, which SpaceX tried to meet. However, anonymous sources told Bloomberg, that the authorities doubt the ability to actually control the operation of the service, and the Iranian precedent only strengthened these doubts.
Starlink Vice President of Operations Lauren Dreyer responded to the post on social media, stating, that the company is conducting active and productive negotiations with the Indian side. According to her, Bloomberg reports are based on unconfirmed information from anonymous sources. Bloomberg did not write at the same time, that the negotiations stopped completely. The publication recorded only that, that service deployment is frozen.
IN 2022 year, the Ukrainian military faced a sudden limitation of Starlink coverage in areas of the front in the Kherson region after, as Elon Musk personally ordered to cut access to the network during the counteroffensive. This case showed, that decisions about Starlink operation in specific regions do not depend on legal agreements, and from the will of the company's management. The Iranian precedent only added new evidence to this and forced governments to rethink the terms, on which they are willing to launch Starlink into their markets.
The cost of the Starlink satellite network directly depends on the number of countries, where she works. The infrastructure is already built, and profit is determined by, how many subscribers use the service. Access to each market is negotiated separately and many governments require or create joint ventures to protect local telecommunications companies, or direct supervision over it, who can connect to the system and how.
Source: https://techcrunch.com