Starlink pacts: Opposition raises security concerns

“It is abundantly clear that these partnerships have been orchestrated by none other than the prime minister himself to buy goodwill with President Trump through Starlink’s owner Elon Musk,” Jairam RAmesh alleged.

New Delhi: The Opposition on Thursday questioned telecom giants Airtel and Jio joining hands with Elon Musk’s Starlink with the Congress claiming that it compromises national security and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “orchestrating” deals “to buy goodwill” of US President Donald Trump.

The CPM said allowing a US company to acquire strategic satellite spectrum and orbital slots and create a space monopoly compromises national security, as it is “now known” that the US “threats” to stop Starlink services to the Ukraine military forced Zelensky to concede to US demands on “handing over its natural resources and negotiating” with Russia under US aegis.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said that both Airtel and Jio have announced separate partnerships with Starlink within 12 hours by “overcoming all their objections” to its entry into India. Both had been voicing their opposition to Starlink’s entry into India for quite some time, he said.

“It is abundantly clear that these partnerships have been orchestrated by none other than the prime minister himself to buy goodwill with President Trump through Starlink’s owner Elon Musk,” he alleged.

“But many questions remain. Perhaps the most important one relates to national security. Who will have the power to switch connectivity on or off when national security demands it? Will it be Starlink or its Indian partners? Will other satellite-based connectivity providers also be permitted and on what basis?” he posted on X.

“And, of course, the much larger question of Tesla manufacturing in India remains. Is there some commitment to it now that Starlink’s entry into India has been facilitated?” he said.

“Every day, Trump is announcing that India is reducing its tariffs. We don’t know what India has agreed

on. The prime minister is clearly hoping that Trump will be kept happy because we have kept Musk happy,” he added.

In a statement, CPM Polit Bureau said satellite spectrum should be allocated exclusively for strategic uses, such as defence and Isro operations.

“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,” it said.

“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,” it said.