We are shocked at how two of India's largest telecom operators and bitter rivals announced plans simultaneously to partner Musk's Starlink to bring satellite based broadband internet services to the country. All these years they had vehemently opposed Starlink's entry into India saying that it will disrupt legacy service providers and upend a level playing field. It is pertinent to note that Starlink is yet to obtain an operator's license for India and it's services will come at a premium of almost 10X compared to the rates of regular internet service ISPs. It is very obvious that PM Modi has unilaterally decided to facilitate the Musk owned company's entry to curry favour with Donald Trump. National security and territorial sovereignty which the BJPwallas are so paranoid about has been given the short shrift here ; there is absolutely no clarity whether in times of emergency a foreign entity (Space X) will have the power to switch off / switch on the broadband services or would the authority rest with the Indian government.The views of the Indian defence forces regarding signal jamming / encryption in sensitive areas have also not been sought in this matter.
