India Restricts China-Linked Satellites: A Strategic Shift in Space-Security Governance

1)      Introduction: India has increasingly recognised outer space as a critical domain of national security, alongside land, sea, air, and cyber. Satellite infrastructure today underpins broadcasting, telecommunications, navigation, banking, disaster management, and defence networks. As adversarial capabilities grew—particularly China’s anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, electronic warfare, co-orbital surveillance and cyber intrusion tools—India reassessed the risks of relying on foreign satellites with Chinese ownership links. This led to new directives by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) and IN-SPACe restricting the use of such satellites for broadcasting and teleport operations.

For decades, Indian broadcasters used a mix of domestic INSAT-GSAT satellites and leased foreign transponders, especially C-band capacity from AsiaSat-5, AsiaSat-7 and Apstar. Growing concerns documented in the 2025 Global Counterspace Capabilities Report—including China’s ability to intercept data streams, jam signals, monitor traffic pathways, or manipulate uplinks—highlighted vulnerabilities. Dependency on Chinese-linked platforms was increasingly seen as a national-security liability.

2)      New Restriction Policy:

IN-SPACe withdrew authorization for AsiaSat-5 and AsiaSat-7 beyond 31 March 2026. From 1 October 2025, only IN-SPACe-approved satellites may serve the Indian market. Foreign operators must seek fresh authorization routed through an Indian entity. Broadcasters must migrate early to avoid disruptions. Zee, JioStar TV, and others have already begun shifting to trusted platforms.

3)      Strategic Rationale:

The policy aims to block surveillance risk, prevent covert data access, avoid cyber infiltration of satellite-ground systems, counter China’s expanding space posture, and strengthen India’s sovereign broadcasting architecture. It also pushes Indian and trusted international partners to enhance local capacity, aligning with Atmanirbhar Bharat.

4)      Institutional Role of IN-SPACe: