[Marxistindia] Stop Starlink Deal

[news from the cpi(m)]

March 13, 2025
Press Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued 
the following statement:

Stop Starlink Deal

The recent reports of Jio and Airtel's tie-up with Elon Musk's Starlink 
to offer high-speed satellite-based internet services in the country 
raises serious questions regarding spectrum allocation and national 
security concerns. The Supreme Court had held in the 2G case that 
spectrum is a scarce resource and can be allocated to private players 
only through open, transparent auction. Any private deal for allocating 
spectrum would be a violation of the law of the land. Jio, Airtel and 
Starlink coming together to form a cartel to dominate satellite spectrum 
use will be at the cost of millions of telecom subscribers in India.

Further, satellite spectrum should be allocated exclusively for 
strategic uses, such as defence and ISRO operations. This is not only a 
question of spectrum allocation but also the number of orbital slots a 
country has. Allowing such satellites to capture vital orbital slots but 
also use them for mapping our natural resources, gathering commercially 
valuable data, e.g., weather, the status of crops, and, of course, 
strategic military/defence data, would be against our national and 
security interests. Particularly as ISRO and other Indian agencies have 
the ability to do so.

Such telecom services are also critical for a country's defence. It is 
now known that the US threats to stop Starlink services to the Ukraine 
military forced Zelensky to concede US demands on handing over its 
natural resources and negotiating with Russia under US aegis. Allowing a 
US company to acquire highly strategic satellite spectrum and orbital 
slots and create a space monopoly compromises our national sovereignty 
and security.



(Muralidharan)
For CPI(M) Central Committee Office