Share on Facebook NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said on Thursday that the network data, traffic, and other details accumulated by Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service will be locally stored in India. He added that the domestic user traffic is not to be mirrored to any system or server located abroad. Pemmasani, in a written reply, informed the Rajya Sabha, 'Security conditions, inter-alia, include the establishment of earth station gateway(s) in India for providing satellite-based communication services with no user traffic originating from or destined for India to be routed through any gateway located outside India, no copying and decryption of the Indian data outside the country, and the Indian user traffic is not to be mirrored to any system/server located abroad.' Advt US-based Starlink is the third satcom operator after Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Jio-SES JV to secure all clearances for offering commercial broadband from space services in India, a market expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. Starlink received its Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) permit last month. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) authorised Starlink’s Gen 1 constellation to provide satellite communication services in India. Gen 1 is Starlink’s low Earth orbit (LEO) network of 4408 satellites which can offer 600 Gbps throughput in India. India's top telecom incumbents, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, earlier this year partnered with Musk's aerospace company SpaceX to deliver Starlink services in the country. The minister, meanwhile, said that the satcom sector is expected to generate employment as it is an emerging area. 'Satellite-based communication services is an upcoming area and, as any new economic activity would do, it is also expected to generate employment in the country, as it involves, inter alia, the installation, operation and maintenance of the telecom network including user terminal equipment,' Pemmasani said in his reply. Advt Starlink now needs to acquire spectrum from the government and establish ground infrastructure for its services. Two other global satcom majors -Jeff Bezos-owned Amazon Kuiper and Apple’s satcom partner Globalstar - are also awaiting approvals from Indian authorities.