Satcom Infrastructure: India’s race for dominance in space

A silent transformation is taking place far above the clouds, one that will decide which nations shape the digital world of the 2030s. While the public conversation in India remains fixated on 5G and fibre, the real contest for digital dominance is unfolding in orbit.

Satellite communication—Satcom—is no longer a technical afterthought or an exotic supplement to terrestrial networks. It is the next critical infrastructure layer upon which economies, militaries, and societies will depend.

For a country as geographically vast and diverse as India, the future of national security and digital inclusion will hinge on how quickly it secures a foothold in this contested space frontier.

A New Frontier in Digital Dominance

India’s Satcom market is currently valued at around USD 3.5 billion, but its trajectory extends far beyond mere commercial growth. The nation stands at a pivotal moment where space technology intersects with national strategy. China has already embarked on an aggressive campaign to launch two mega-constellations with more than 26,000 satellites.

The Guowang network alone plans to deploy 13,000 satellites by the 2030s, merging civilian broadband ambitions with military command-and-control and surveillance capabilities. This dual-use infrastructure is tightly woven into Beijing’s Belt and Road ambitions, creating digital dependencies across developing nations.

Across the Pacific, SpaceX’s Starlink has changed the scale of what private enterprise can achieve. With over 8,000 operational satellites and performance rivalling fibre connections, it has demonstrated that orbital broadband can be fast, resilient, and profitable.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper follows closely behind, while Europe and Japan are investing billions in sovereign communication constellations to ensure strategic independence. Every major power now considers satcom as a pillar of national resilience. For India, delay means dependence.

Bridging India’s Connectivity Divide

India’s challenges in this arena are multifaceted. The most visible is the connectivity gap. Rural internet penetration remains below one-quarter of households, compared with two-thirds in cities. In mountain regions, islands, and border villages, terrestrial infrastructure is economically infeasible. For these areas, satellites are not a luxury but a necessity.

Without reliable communication in frontier zones like Ladakh or Arunachal Pradesh, even basic administration and disaster response are compromised. The digital divide is therefore a matter of both sovereignty and social equity.

Defence communications are another weak link. The Indian Navy relies heavily on ageing satellites, and the upcoming GSAT-7R offers only incremental progress. Meanwhile, China’s military constellation already supports integrated surveillance across the Indian Ocean Region, enhancing its capacity for “grey-zone” operations.

India’s maritime awareness, spanning 11,000 kilometres of coastline, still relies on a modest network of satellites and radar stations. The gap is not only technological but also strategic, as adversaries increasingly integrate cyber, electronic, and space-based operations.

Economically, India’s space industry remains underleveraged. Although it has built satellites for more than thirty countries, its share of the global space economy is barely 2%.

The ambition to reach USD 44 billion by 2033 depends on the integration of space-based communication into agriculture, logistics, healthcare, and disaster management. These downstream services are key to scale, but their expansion is constrained by launch capacity, regulatory friction, and inconsistent policy direction.

Securing the Orbit Against Invisible Threats

Security vulnerabilities compound these industrial challenges. India imports most of its semiconductors and satellite components, creating dependencies that could become liabilities during geopolitical shocks. New security regulations mandate data localisation and real-time monitoring of satellite operators, but implementation remains uneven.

Cybersecurity threats loom large: in 2024 alone, India recorded hundreds of millions of malware incidents, many targeting critical infrastructure. Satellite networks, which depend on software-defined architectures, will only expand the attack surface. Without quantum-resistant encryption and proactive threat intelligence, India risks building an orbital infrastructure vulnerable to foreign intrusion.

Balancing Policy, Control, and Competition

At the policy level, India faces a delicate balance. The decision to allocate rather than auction satellite spectrum was a pragmatic departure from past telecom controversies and aligned with international norms. Yet it triggered opposition from powerful telecom incumbents, who were wary of losing ground.

The regulatory framework, finalised in 2025, introduced revenue-based charges and user fees designed to fund oversight while encouraging market entry. Starlink, OneWeb, and the Jio-SES venture are among the first to obtain licenses under this system. Still, mandatory NavIC integration, data localisation, and border monitoring zones could raise operational costs, potentially deterring smaller domestic entrants.

India’s future satcom ecosystem will depend on whether these policies encourage innovation or stifle it under excessive compliance. The risk is not regulatory overreach alone but a missed opportunity—while other nations race ahead with coordinated industrial, defence, and commercial strategies, India’s fragmented governance could slow progress at precisely the moment acceleration is needed.

Unifying Civilian and Defence Priorities

India’s leadership must now decide how to transform its latent capabilities into global influence. A domestic low-earth-orbit constellation should be the cornerstone of this effort, designed to serve both civilian and defence objectives. Public-private partnerships can drive this transformation if they are backed by predictable policy and investment continuity.

The National Space Policy already permits full foreign direct investment in satellite manufacturing, a vital step toward integrating global supply chains while fostering indigenous innovation.

At the same time, India’s satcom strategy must align with its digital inclusion mission. Satellite backhaul should complement BharatNet in regions where fibre deployment is uneconomic, with support from targeted subsidies or universal service funds.

Agriculture, healthcare, and education services—each of which depends on reliable connectivity—should be granted priority access to satellite bandwidth at reduced rates. This is not charity but national development policy in its most practical form.

Defence modernisation must advance in parallel. India cannot rely indefinitely on a handful of communication satellites to secure its maritime and border domains. Dedicated military constellations equipped with anti-jamming systems and quantum-safe encryption are essential.

Integrating satellite intelligence with naval and air surveillance networks will create the redundancy required for high-intensity conflict scenarios. Lessons from Japan’s rapid satellite defence build-up demonstrate how focused investment can translate into resilience.

Global Partnerships, National Autonomy

International cooperation is indispensable, but must be structured around India’s strategic autonomy. Collaboration through the Quad, iCET with the United States, and partnerships with Europe and Japan can accelerate technology transfer while diversifying supply chains away from China.

However, India must avoid merely replacing one dependency with another. The goal is capability parity—being able to choose partners without being constrained by them.

India’s inclusion in the Bharat 6G Alliance and its collaboration with the European Space Agency on satellite-enabled 6G networks mark a forward-looking step. As the global 6G race integrates satellite networks into terrestrial systems, India’s contributions to standards and patents can secure long-term leverage. If managed wisely, Satcom will not just extend connectivity but anchor India’s position in the architecture of next-generation networks.

The Last Window for Space Sovereignty

The next five years will define India’s standing in the orbital economy. China’s massive constellations could soon blanket the Indo-Pacific, while Western commercial platforms deepen their hold over global connectivity.

If India hesitates, its communications, logistics, and defence infrastructure may depend on foreign networks governed by external laws. Strategic autonomy would then become an illusion.

But if India acts decisively—developing indigenous constellations, investing in cybersecurity, streamlining regulation, and aligning Satcom with national digital priorities—it can turn space into a domain of strength.

The country’s proven engineering cost efficiency, as demonstrated by Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan, can serve as a model for scalable satellite deployment. Moreover, the private space sector, now exceeding 200 startups, can inject speed and innovation into what has long been a state-dominated field.

Satcom is not only about faster internet or rural outreach. It is the infrastructure of sovereignty in a digitised world where data moves faster than diplomacy and orbital networks underpin economic power.

The nations that command space-based communication will command the flow of information, the coordination of commerce, and the resilience of defence systems. For India, the question is no longer whether to compete in this race—it is whether to lead it with purpose, vision, and a sense of urgency.

The author is the Founder and CEO of PygmalionGlobal. He collaborates with multiple cybersecurity companies, including NPCore in South Korea, and engages with government agencies and conglomerates across Asia.

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