India, Oct. 8 -- A senior SpaceX executive said on Wednesday that Starlink is "ready to serve in India, once India is ready." The company has its licence and its space regulator approval, but it is still waiting for security clearance and other regulatory approvals. To see why security is the sticking point, one needs to go back to Mumbai in 2008.

The 26/11 attackers carried a satellite phone (UAE-based Thuraya) and used it to talk to their handlers in Pakistan. Reports say India's regulation of satellite phones was set up for national security, particularly after the Pakistan-based terrorists used this technology to talk to their handlers during the 2008 attacks. The worry was that a satellite phone does not use any Indian mobile networ...