NEW DELHI: Hong Kong-based satellite operator AsiaSat has served notices to the Indian government as well as its customers in the country, including broadcasters such as JioStar and Zee, alleging violations of the existing contracts, according to people familiar with the development.
The move marks a combative approach in the wake of a decision by India’s space regulator IN-SPACe not to allow AsiaSat and other Chinese-owned satellite players to continue services in the country after March 31 owing to security concerns.
“AsiaSat has sent a ‘trigger notice’ for invoking a bilateral investment treaty to the government, including to the Department of Space as there is no other choice,” said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.
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A trigger notice refers to an official warning that a specific event, such as a contract breach, has occurred, which forces an immediate action or penalty. AsiaSat, which has been providing satellite capacity to broadcasters in India for 33 years, had earlier proposed bringing an Indian as an independent director on board for the first time.
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IN-SPACe Examining Matter
It also proposed offering greater control to its local partner among several measures to address concerns stemming from its Chinese ownership.
Following the trigger notice to the government, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) is believed to be examining the matter.
Broadcasters, however, said the arbitration notices sent to them would not be sustainable as AsiaSat no longer has permission to operate in India after March 31, as a result of which they would have to shift to other satellite providers. An arbitration notice is a formal demand sent by one party to another to initiate dispute resolution proceedings outside of traditional courts.
“As such all cases are covered by force majeure (unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract), so far as Indian companies point of view is concerned,” an executive with one of the broadcasters said on condition of anonymity.
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Another executive said, “The stance being taken by AsiaSat, as we understand, is that the contracts were not specific to India and that the companies can use the same bandwidth which they had signed up for to provide services elsewhere in the world.”
Queries sent to AsiaSat, INSPACe, Department of Space, JioStar and Zee remained unanswered till press time.
The satellite firm had again applied for IN-SPACe authorisation in November 2025 after its earlier application was rejected by the regulator. IN-SPACe nod is required for firms to offer satellite services in India. AsiaSat has validity only till the end of this month, after which broadcasters will have to shift to other satellites or face blackout of channels.
MIGRATION TO OTHER SATELLITES
“Obviously this is an act of desperation on AsiaSat’s part and the decisions for various companies by arbitrators ought to be similar. Hence, the industry will need to stand together on common issues and make the regulators party if necessary,” said the first executive cited earlier.
AsiaSat, however, believes domestic broadcasters have to secure alternative satellites for India, due to which they have migrated, but their contract with the company was never limited to India. “Hence they remain contractually bound. We have sent notice to all the customers reminding them of their contract commitments,” said the person privy to the notice details.
ET reported in December 2025 that local broadcasters such as Zee and JioStar and teleport operators were starting to move to other satellites such as India’s GSAT and Intelsat. A host of global news channels such as BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and Bloomberg currently broadcast in India using AsiaSat. They too will have to switch or won’t be allowed to be telecast in India from April 1.
To continue services in India, AsiaSat and Inorbit Space, its authorised partner in India, have proposed to the government that they would bring in more foreign direct investment and offer high-speed data transmission capacity that would be accessible only from a gateway in India.
In order to allay fears over Chinese ownership, AsiaSat has shared details of its shareholding with IN-SPACe. US private equity firm Carlyle Group held a 49.50% stake in the company, as of June 2025, with Hong Kong’s CITIC Ltd owning 50.50%. But both partners held 50% voting rights.