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Is it true, that using or travelling with satellite phone is strictly and unconditionally banned in India? And if yes, is there any explanation or official reason, why?

I have found such information, when browsing various sources before my business trip to India, though I can't recall that particular source, so I wish to confirm this, quite surprising, information.

I can understand banning usage of such devices in areas, places or installation related to national security, police, army etc. But country-wide, unconditional ban for these devices, with underlined addition, that confiscation, high money fine or even up to three years in jail sentence may be executed, even after declaring such device on entry -- that is something beyond my imagination.

JonathanReez
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trejder
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2 Answers2

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The use of satellite phones violates the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the The Indian Wireless Telegraph Act, 1933, the Indian Penal Code, and the Foreigners Order of 1948. The Government of India declared satellite phones as threat to national security because of several recent act of terrorism.

Use of satellite phones for personal and commercial use is prohibited in the country. Only security agencies and defense forces can use it legally. To use any sort of satellite phone, permission has to be taken from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Please check out this article on Wikipedia as well.

ProgrammingLlama
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boroxun
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Amateur (ham) radio is certainly legal in India and takes place regularly. Not being from India, I can only offer an electronics expert's possible explanation.

The vast majority of voice ham radio - VHF, UHF and the HF spectrum - operate by either a 'line of sight' or 'skip' propagation method. Additionally, it's fairly uncommon for ham radio operators to communicate with someone directly overhead - they nearly always are contacting and conversing with someone located at some distance on the horizon from them. These communications leave a clear path which is subject to easy intercept (monitoring).

While hams do use satellite communications, there are relatively few ham satellites and the communications going through them is easily monitored. While satellite phones also use the same radio waves, their communication is intended (and always takes place) with a repeater above the horizon.

What's the meaning of all that? In a nutshell, it's possible for a sat phone to be down in a wide hole (or deep valley), communicating through a satellite passing directly overhead. The 'line of sight' in these cases would not extend to the horizon to any degree. Therefore, these conversations are extremely difficult to monitor, with the notable exception being electronic intelligence (ELINT) aircraft flying overhead or intelligence satellites.

I'm not aware of India having an intelligence satellite or the necessary infrastructure to easily decrypt and intercept the satellite phones' conversations. Know that I'm not implying that India doesn't have the technical knowhow, but I believe that they have much bigger fish to fry and eliminating the legal use of satellite phones is probably an easier method of keeping comms where they can be intercepted and intelligence gleaned from them acted upon.

That's my 2 cents and I'm certainly subject to being wrong about the above conclusions.

DarcyThomas
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John Bowman
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