Why India Hit Pause on Starlink

About this episode

The episode discusses India's decision to pause the launch of Starlink and the associated risks of satellite internet.

Days before SpaceX's record-breaking IPO, India froze Starlink's launch in the country. In this episode, hosted by Adya Madhavan, Ashwin Prasad Rao, co-author of the Takshashila Institution's April paper "Starlink and Risks for India", explains what satellite internet actually is, and why the world's most impressive constellation comes with a problem no regulation can fix. This is the story of risks mapped in April that, by June, sounded strikingly familiar. The paper, the explainer, and Bloomberg's report are linked in the show notes. https://takshashila.org.in/content/publications/20260412-Starlink-and-Risks-For-India.html https://takshashila.org.in/content/publications/assets/satellite-internet-explained.pdf https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-09/starlink-india-launch-hits-security-roadblock-before-spacex-ipo All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution…

People in this episode

Host: Adya Madhavan

Guest: Ashwin Prasad Rao

Topics covered

• Starlink
• satellite internet
• India
• SpaceX
• public policy

Keywords

• Starlink
• India
• satellite internet
• SpaceX
• public policy
• regulation
• risks

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Takshashila Institution, SpaceX, Bloomberg

Books & works: Starlink and Risks for India, satellite internet explained

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