India, May 6 -- The telecommunications department (DoT) has issued a new set of Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) guidelines, which mandate compliance with 29 new security norms to acquire satellite communication (satcom) licences.

Under the new regime, all satcom operators will have to create provisions for blocking of websites, collection of metadata, lawful interception facilities, among others.

This will have a direct bearing on existing licence holders like Bharti Enterprises-backed Eutelsat Oneweb, Reliance-backed Jio-SES, as well as Elon Musk-owned Starlink and Amazon Kuiper, that have applied for licences.

The new rules also put the onus on satcom operators to ensure that their user terminals are verifi...