Starlink India launch: Elon Musk firm to set up nine gateway stations — full list of cities

Elon Musk’s Starlink plans to set up nine gateway earth stations across India as the US-based satellite internet company builds out infrastructure ahead of its commercial launch in the country, the Economic Times reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The proposed sites reportedly include Mumbai, Noida, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Lucknow.

Starlink has applied for 600 gigabit per second capacity over India through its first-generation constellation, and spectrum has been provisionally assigned for demonstrating security-related compliances, the report said.

The company has been allowed to import 100 terminals to test only fixed satellite services.

As part of the testing phase, the government has imposed strict security conditions to prevent misuse of satellite communication services, according to the report. Only Indian nationals will be allowed to operate the gateway stations until foreign staff receive security clearances from the home ministry, it added.

• Mumbai
• Navi Mumbai
• Chennai
• Pune
• Noida
• Chandigarh
• Hyderabad
• Kolkata
• Lucknow

Starlink is the third company after Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Jio’s satellite arm, Jio Satellite, to receive provisional airwaves for security demonstrations. None of the three have yet secured final security approvals.

India has granted licenses to Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio-SES and issued a letter of intent to Starlink, clearing the way for commercial satellite broadband services once spectrum pricing and allocation are finalised.

Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia recently said the rollout of satellite broadband services would begin once operators complete their execution plans and the telecom regulator sets spectrum prices.

“It depends on the players in terms of how quickly they can roll out their execution strategy,” Scindia told reporters at India Mobile Congress 2025. “There is one issue that TRAI has to still finalise — the spectrum pricing. That is the pending part, and that regulator will do.”

The Union home ministry earlier flagged instances of unauthorised Starlink devices being used in border areas, and the security agencies had seized such equipment in Manipur and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands last year.