The Spectrum Muddle

Hectic preparations are underway in India for President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement on April 2 with Trump naming India “one of the highest tariffing nations in the world”. The government told Parliament that India has not replied to US tariffs. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are putting up a brave front, while External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar is working hard for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to share the Nobel Peace Prize with Trump should the war in Ukraine be brought to an end. Goyal says the government will ensure a good future for Indian exporters. He wouldn’t dare admit China’s trade ban has hit our already abysmal manufacturing capacity, sourcing adequate materials from elsewhere isn’t possible anytime soon and global investors are deserting India’s stock market, selling shares at record pace to buy Chinese stocks instead.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid it on thick for Trump by joining his ‘Truth Portal’ and posting his podcast on it, in which he reminisces about ‘Howdy Modi’ and praises Trump for his “humility”. The ‘humility’ bit would’ve tickled Trump pink no end. Chinese President Xi Jinping is equally tickled with Modi’s whiter than snow whitewash of Ladakh of 2020 and beyond; expect Modi hugging Xi at the upcoming SCO Summit in China to the soundtrack of the Dragon-Elephant Tango. Ignore the Naval Chief lamenting Chinese vessels engaging in undeclared military work in the Indian Ocean.

India has pulled out all stops to please Elon Musk notwithstanding Musk’s X suing the Indian government for unlawful content regulation and arbitrary censorship (India’s free speech kill-switch?). Trump nixed the electric vehicle (EV) plan of the previous administration, favouring natural fuel-driven vehicles for well-known reasons. With Musk’s Tesla shares collapsing dramatically, satellite pictures showing a sea of unsold Tesla cars and terrorists setting Tesla cars on fire, Trump bought a Tesla car to show support for Musk. India is welcoming Tesla with open arms; land being acquired in India and recruitment begun for establishing Tesla facilities.

With Trump demanding zero tariff on EVs, Madhya Pradesh is adopting the Delhi/NCR model to dump 10 and 15-year-old diesel and petrol vehicles respectively – small mileage covered and pollution-free certificate notwithstanding. By taxing the sale of old cars, Sitharaman is making India richer anyway. Those without a second-income, who can’t afford a new car, can buy an electric two-wheeler. Why are other BJP-led states shy of following Madhya Pradesh? Would Musk gift Tesla’s future flying cars and free space travel to select Indian ministers for a pan-India Tesla revolution? Will we see some ‘Musk Highways’ matching existing residential ‘Trump Towers’ in our metros?    

Our major concern should be India under Starlink cover. In January 2025, about 120 SpaceX Starlink satellites (@ 3-4 daily) burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, leading to artificial meteor showers; scientists are concerned about re-entry of satellites in the mesosphere; releasing aluminium oxide particles that damage the protective ozone layer (https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/science/elon-musk-starlink-satellites-are-falling-back-ozone-pollution-9867500/).

Satellite spectrum has been in the news since long, with the Supreme Court ruling in 2012 for holding a spectrum auction ignored. Reliance Industries-backed Jio Platforms has been pushing for early auction of the satellite spectrum. Also, telecom service providers have been advocating for a level playing field between satcom and telecom operators; with concerns that global satcom operators may hijack the satellite spectrum and poach their subscribers by providing services in urban areas.  India has not yet awarded Starlink the license for broadband services and there is talk of India imposing tough conditions for this, but suddenly there is news that Bharti Airtel and Jio are bringing SpaceX Starlink satellite services to India - boosting India’s tele density, especially in rural areas. Both Airtel and Jio have signed a deal with Starlink, with Jio offering Starlink equipment at Jio’s retail outlets and establishing customer support service, installation and activation.

The media portrays these deals are between Airtel and Jio with Starlink, with no government involvement. But IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav (who is also the Minister of Railways with a series of rail accidents and the New Delhi Railway Station stampede to his credit) let the cat out of the bag by tweeting: “Starlink, welcome to India”. Obviously, these deals are with Modi’s approval. There would naturally be cut-backs benefiting the Centre. Questions on social media are how much Musk paid to earn this “without an auction”, the Ku-band (12-18 GHz) spectrum being public property? A US Court has summoned Gautam Adani for bribing officials to promote his business but Elon Musk need have no such fear in India.

Starlink’s global pricing is reportedly much higher than Indian telcos’ home broadband plans. Jio and Airtel have their own satellite broadband ventures - Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio’s JV with SES (Orbit Connect India), which are ahead of Starlink in terms of securing the licences from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and approvals from IN-SPACe. So, why the need to make deals with Starlink, unless political pressure is being exerted and Trump is to be pleased?

Corruption and bribes are part of India but we would be foolish not to seriously examine issues having a bearing on national security. The mainstream media is propagating that Starlink will enable internet service access to every corner in rural and remote areas of India, making internet faster with high-speed connectivity, and license to Starlink will make it mandatory for storing all user data within India and ensure data interception by intelligence agencies, when required. If this is considered sufficient to safeguard India’s national security, we don’t understand the very basics of how the American administration functions, and this is not just about some ‘Kill Switch’ in the F-35 (https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16AWhUkEmN/?mibextid=wwXIfr) because of which Portugal has cancelled and Canada is looking to cancel F-35 procurement. Moreover, are we aware Starlink has a deal with the Pentagon; implying our complete data will be passed on to the Pentagon for use/manipulation?

This will enable Starlink to switch off in critical times or feed us wrong information that suits American interests; are we handing over our security completely in American hands? Have we forgotten that in 1971 when the Indian Navy moved to blockade Karachi Harbour, America switched off the GPS, forcing our ships to return to ports; which in turn led Modi to launch the indigenous NavIC – or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). We must also acknowledge that Trump’s tenure is four years and the next US government may not be so favourably disposed towards India, not that Trump is not placing American interests above India’s. Can Trump really kill America’s deep state which has been thriving for centuries.   

For a government focused on trade and economy, it is difficult to comprehend that merely asking Starlink to store all user data within India and facilitating data interception by intelligence agencies (when required) doesn’t guarantee our national security. This is similar to EAM Jaishankar saying that Chinese investments in India are not in critical sectors and Chinese nationals will not be allowed to occupy important positions in joint ventures. China must be laughing at the naivety of our ministers, with India at the mercy of Chinese  cyber sabotage at the time of Beijing’s choosing (https://www.sps-aviation.com/experts-speak/?id=894&h=Chinas-Cyber-Spy-Sabotage-Network).

Why is Assam State being permitted an exclusive satellite? Is it because Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is blue-eyed on the ‘Hindutva’ plank, who arranges a massive dance performance, enticing  Modi into beating drums himself? Are we going to allow India’s 28 States and eight Union Territories to have their own exclusive satellites? Is this the ‘One India’ we keep harping about?

Are these our priorities with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) directly under the prime minister, free from bureaucratic control? Compare this with the government approving phase III of the Space Based Surveillance to bolster surveillance along our land borders and the maritime domain in October 2024, completion of which will take 10 years – by 2034. This despite India suffering infiltration and cross-border attack over several decades and the BJP-led government in power since 2014?

Finally, is the argument that at this point of time, there is none better than Starlink to provide these services. If that was true, why have Airtel and Jio applied for the licence to provide broadband services? Similarly, why did we not plan for broadband internet using ISRO satellites years back? 

The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.