India freezes Starlink commercial approval over Iran war security concerns
India has frozen final approval for Starlink's commercial launch, one of its last hurdles in a huge untapped market. Security agencies in the Home Affairs ministry flagged that terminals operated in Iran without a license during the conflict. Starlink says talks with Delhi contin
Starlink's path into one of the world's largest untapped internet markets has hit a wall. As of June 9, India froze final regulatory approval for the commercial launch of SpaceX's satellite service, according to reporting from outlets including The Week and Republic World. The decision came from security agencies within India's Ministry of Home Affairs, which raised concerns that Starlink terminals had been operating inside Iran without authorization during the current conflict there. The freeze is notable because Starlink had already cleared the two biggest hurdles, securing a Unified License and GMPCS authorization from the Department of Telecommunications in 2025, leaving it on the doorstep of launch. The security review has no publicly stated deadline. Starlink has said it remains in active discussions with the Indian government and pointed to encouraging feedback on its role in expanding connectivity. The episode shows how wartime security concerns are reshaping decisions about foreign-controlled satellite networks, where a government's ability to monitor or restrict service during a crisis becomes a national security question rather than a purely commercial one.