• Access DoT’s spectrum rules from here: PDF

On June 18, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) published the draft Telecommunications (Spectrum Assignment by Administrative Process) Rules, 2026, setting out how the government assigns spectrum without an auction across 19 categories of users under the Telecommunications Act, 2023. The draft is open for public comments for 30 days, until July 18, 2026. It builds a full framework for traditional satellite services but leaves out the operators behind consumer satellite broadband, including Starlink.

What the Rules Cover and Leave Out

1.Traditional GSO satellite services are covered: On the satellite side, the rules price and set conditions for Geo-Stationary Orbit (GSO) services, where a satellite stays fixed over one point above the equator. They include:

• Teleports.
• Television channels and Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV.
• Digital Satellite News Gathering.
• Corporate Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) connections.
• Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)’s satellite phone service.

2. Satellite broadband operators are left out: The draft does not cover Non-Geostationary Orbit (NGSO) operators, which run constellations of satellites in lower orbits to deliver fast, low-latency internet. Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb, and Jio Satellite Communications are all NGSO operators. The fee schedule under Annexure IX names only commercial GSO VSAT and BSNL’s satellite phone and does not mention NGSO at all.

3. The omission keeps broadband on hold: Starlink, OneWeb, and Jio already hold Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licences and authorisations from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe). What they lack is assigned spectrum, which the government cannot assign until it sets a price and conditions. By skipping NGSO, the draft keeps commercial satellite broadband from launching, even as the government promotes satellite broadband for the remote and hilly areas that fibre cannot easily reach under the National Broadband Mission 2.0.

Security agencies have also reportedly frozen Starlink’s final clearances over national security concerns, Bloomberg reported in June 2026, a hurdle for Starlink that sits alongside the missing spectrum framework. Starlink has disputed the report, saying it remains in active discussions with the government.

4. DoT has not used TRAI’s advice: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and DoT have been working through satellite spectrum since 2021 through a long reference trail of consultations and clarifications. DoT sent a fresh reference on satellite commercial services in July 2024, and TRAI gave its final recommendations in May 2025, advising a charge of 4% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR), the share of an operator’s revenue on which it pays government dues, for NGSO fixed satellite services. This draft implements none of them.

The Conditions for Covered Operators:

A licence alone does not unlock spectrum: The rules place clearance and a letter of intent between the application and the assignment.

• The applicant first obtains security clearance and site clearance for its radio equipment.
• The government then issues a letter of intent.
• Only afterwards does the government assign the spectrum.

Executives must meet security criteria: Beyond the company, the rules require that its key managerial personnel “shall fulfill such security-related criteria as the Central Government may specify on the portal,” so the obligation attaches to individuals, not only the firm.

No connecting to public networks without permission: Even after getting spectrum, an operator shall “not connect its telecommunication network with public telecommunication networks,” including the internet, landline phones, and mobile networks, “unless permitted by the Central Government,” the rules say. They set out no process, timeline, or criteria for granting that permission.

The government can change terms on its own: The government may “suo motu, modify, vary, or make technical adjustments” to the assignment, including changes to frequency bands, power, or emission types, “if it is satisfied that it is expedient to do so.” It cites grounds such as managing interference and re-farming the spectrum. The operator must comply within the government’s timeline, though this does not shorten the assignment’s duration.

The fees stay revenue-linked: Covered satellite operators do not pay a flat fee for spectrum. They pay a percentage of their AGR, so the charge scales with what the service earns. For commercial VSAT, the percentage also rises with the data speed offered.

• Commercial GSO VSAT: 3% of AGR up to 128 kbps, 3.5% up to 512 kbps, and 4% up to 2 Mbps.
• BSNL’s satellite phone service: 1% of AGR.
• Application fee: Rs 1,000, non-refundable, for every applicant.

Also read:

• TRAI Dismisses Level Playing Field Concerns Between Satcom and Telcos
• Is Satellite Internet a Viable Business in India? Pricing and Policy Concerns
• Starlink and Telcos debate level playing field issues between telecom and satcom in TRAI consultation