India’s IN-SPACe looks to lock out Chinese satellite operators: report

Details: John Tanner; Category: Regulation; 06 November 2025; 10197 views

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) reportedly plans to block satellite operators linked to China from providing services to broadcasters and teleport operators in the name of national security.

According to a report on Thursday from ETTelecom, citing anonymous sources, IN-SPACe has rejected applications from Chinasat, APT Satellite (Apstar) and AsiaSat to offer satellite services in India. Under new regulatory rules implemented last year, foreign satellite operators must acquire authorisation from IN-SPACe to offer services in India.

AsiaSat already offers services in India via its AsiaSat 5 and AsiaSat 7 satellites. However, the report said that IN-SPACe has declined its application to offer services on its AsiaSat 6, AsiaSat 8 and AsiaSat 9 satellites.

Consequently, the report claims, broadcasters like JioStar and Zee, along with teleport operators, are switching their traffic from AsiaSat to other satellites.

IN-SPACe, ChinaSat and Apstar have not confirmed the report. However, Zee told ETTelecom that it has already migrated its traffic from AsiaSat 7 to the Intelsat-20 satellite, as well as the GSAT-17 and GSAT-30 satellites operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in September.

Rajdeepsinh Gohil, managing director of Inorbit Space (AsiaSat’s authorised partner in India), told the newspaper that both companies are in talks with IN-SPACe to extend its authorisation to offer services on AsiaSat 5 and AsiaSat 7, which expires in March 2026.

Gohil pointed out that AsiaSat has been operating in India for over 30 years, and that it has been in compliance with all regulations during that time.

The report also noted that India’s previous openness to foreign satellite operators, including those based in China, was partly driven by capacity constraints as demand outstripped the supply of India’s homegrown satellite capacity. However, the government’s focus over the past few years has shifted to national security – particularly in regards to China – of which the space sector is deemed a critical component.

Meanwhile, the capacity issue is being addressed with the rise of LEO satellite broadband services from the likes of Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Amazon Kuiper, all of whom are currently awaiting final approval from the government to launch services.