Starlink Spectrum Deal Poses National Security Risk
IN a strongly worded letter addressed to cabinet secretary T V Somanathan on June 9, 2025, former secretary to the Government of India, EAS Sarma has raised serious concerns over the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) administrative clearance to Elon Musk’s Starlink for use of India’s satellite spectrum, warning that the move violates Supreme Court guidelines and poses a significant national security threat.
Referring to his earlier letter dated June 2, 2025, Sarma reminded the government that administratively allocating satellite spectrum to a private foreign entity like Starlink contravenes the Supreme Court’s directive in the landmark 2G spectrum case, which mandated transparent and auction-based allocation of spectrum resources. He reiterated his demand for an independent judicial inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the government's decision to favour Starlink over prioritising strategic use of the spectrum by ISRO, defence services, and Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).
"This is not the first time I have cautioned the government," Sarma stated, pointing to a series of earlier letters and articles published on Countercurrents.org between November 2024 and May 2025. These writings repeatedly warned against compromising strategic interests to accommodate foreign telecom players and specifically alleged that Starlink was forming a cartel with two domestic telecom operators to dominate India’s satellite spectrum landscape.
Sarma’s concerns gained further urgency in light of recent reports in The Washington Post and WION News, which revealed a possible breach of national security at the White House involving Starlink. According to these reports, personnel from the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), allegedly linked to Musk’s team, installed a Starlink Wi-Fi terminal on the White House roof and transmitted significant amounts of data without detection, bypassing official security protocols.
Quoting from the reports, Sarma wrote: "Elon Musk’s team at the US DOGE Service and allies in the Trump administration ignored White House communications experts worried about potential security breaches... A large amount of data was transmitted undetected using Starlink from the White House roof."
“These revelations,” Sarma emphasized, “should serve as a wake-up call to the Indian government about the dangers of permitting foreign corporations access to sensitive communication infrastructure.”
Calling the DoT’s handling of the Starlink deal “imprudent” and driven by “extraneous considerations,” Sarma alleged that the department appeared to have “thrown caution and legality to the wind” in its eagerness to accommodate Starlink. He emphasised that the situation calls for a full-fledged judicial investigation to ensure transparency and accountability.
“If the government fails to order such an inquiry,” he warned, “it would appear that it does not wish to be accountable to Parliament or the people.”
Sarma concluded his letter by urging the government to earmark satellite spectrum exclusively for use by ISRO, defence services, and CPSEs in the national interest.
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