New Delhi, October 9 (IANS). BJP Kerala President and former Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekhar has responded in detail to the question raised by Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk regarding the delay in Starlink getting the license in India. He said India's technology and telecom policies are now based on transparency, security and accountability, with national interests and security aspects assessed before allowing any new technology.
Former Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekhar wrote on social media platform
He wrote on “It was dominated by cronies. But under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the tech sector (including telecom/internet) works on 3 principles.”
Chandrashekhar further said that the first basis of India's policy is open, which means that there should not be dominance of any one company or limited group and everyone should get the opportunity of fair competition.
The second principle is Safe and Trusted, under which the network, infrastructure and platform must be secure and reliable. The third principle is accountability, according to which legal accountability of every party involved in the technology ecosystem should be fixed.
Rajeev Chandrashekhar said that he himself has used the Starlink service and found it to be a very impressive technology. He said that it represents a new era in the field of mobility and communication.
However, he said that any country has to keep in mind its national interests and security needs before adopting new technology. He said that this is what India is doing at present and patience is necessary in this process.
The former Union Minister said that in a country like India, it is important to look seriously at the security aspects related to satellite-based internet and communication services. He said the country has faced challenges like terrorism and insurgency for decades, many times using satellite communications.
Citing recent terror incidents ranging from the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, he said satellite-based VoIP and encrypted communications could create new challenges for security agencies. However, he also said that these challenges are not impossible, but it will be necessary to build new capabilities and systems to deal with them.
Rajeev Chandrashekhar further said that as per the available information, the Government of India has made it clear that all satellite communication service providers are almost at the same stage and security clearance is the priority in the licensing process.
He said that first the security and reliability related investigation of the companies is being completed and then progress will be made on issues like spectrum allocation.
Let us tell you that earlier while posting on X, Elon Musk had asked that Starlink has got license in more than 165 countries of the world and the company has followed all the requirements and rules of the Government of India in the last five years, still why did it not get the license.
Musk had also asked in his post whether the real decision maker in India is industrialist Mukesh Ambani. After this comment by Musk, this issue became a topic of widespread discussion.
In fact, the debate over Starlink and other satellite internet services in India is not limited to just licensing or market competition, but also involves important aspects like national security, data protection, encryption and communication surveillance.
–IANS
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