Who gets the kill switch in India’s satcom showdown?

India's battle for satellite connectivity supremacy has now expanded beyond internet service providers, delving into the control and potential killing of connectivity within its borders. The market is dominated by three players: Airtel-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, Reliance Jio's satellite venture, and Elon Musk's Starlink.

With the competitors' line-ups largely set, a key question has emerged: should a foreign company have the authority to control, restrict, or even kill connectivity in Indian territory? Sunil Mittal, Airtel's chairman, has strongly advocated that such power should remain with India, even though his company is leading in the approvals process.

On the other hand, Musk and Mukesh Ambani have debated the matter recently. While Starlink offers a global LEO constellation and a direct-to-consumer broadband model, aiming to reach underserved homes and businesses, Jio's proposed constellation of 1,600-1,650 satellites could potentially provide India with a domestically controlled LEO network.

The government is concerned about foreign ownership, control of satellite networks, routing of Indian users' data through foreign gateways, and the ability to interrupt connectivity during emergencies. They are considering a hardware-based security checkpoint to give Indian authorities more control over satellite traffic and the capacity to prioritize domestic security needs.