Starlink India delay: Musk targets Ambani, India pushes back

Elon Musk has accused Reliance Jio's Mukesh Ambani of standing in the way of Starlink's launch in India. In posts on X this week, he asked: "Is Ambani the real boss of India?" India's Ministry of Communications rejected the charge, saying its approval process is "fair and non-discriminatory." The row matters because India has more than a billion internet users, and satellite internet could reach the places fiber and mobile networks do not.

What Musk said

Musk's posts grew sharper over several days. In one, he said Starlink was blocked so that unnamed people could "maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people," Al Jazeera reports. He called it a "crime against the people of India." He had earlier blamed unnamed "oligarchs" for blocking the launch to protect their business, according to TechCrunch.

On Friday, Musk posted that Starlink could connect remote areas, help children learn and help small businesses. He then added: "Naturally, you would prefer to maintain your monopolistic exploitation of the great people of India," TechCrunch reports.

He also claimed Starlink's beams were "turned off over India" and "never on in the first place," Al Jazeera reports. The two outlets give slightly different days for the posts.

India's answer

The Ministry of Communications issued a statement that did not name Starlink or Musk. "The suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived," it said, as quoted by Al Jazeera.

The ministry said three licensed satellite operators, Starlink among them, are at "broadly the same regulatory stage." All three are going through security assessments before they receive satellite spectrum, the radio frequencies the service needs. On Friday, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said India "does not allow a monopoly in any sector," TechCrunch reports.

How Starlink got here

Starlink has waited for a commercial licence in India since 2022, according to Al Jazeera. Last year it won a key licence from the communications ministry and a go-ahead from India's space agency. It still lacks the final approval to start selling service.

Security worries grew from 2024, Al Jazeera reports. That year, authorities found Starlink devices in a drug seizure in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in an army operation in Manipur.

The business picture is tangled:

Company	Link to the dispute
Reliance Jio (Mukesh Ambani)	Pushed for satellite spectrum to be auctioned; has a joint venture with SES
Bharti Airtel (Sunil Mittal)	A major shareholder in Eutelsat OneWeb
Starlink	Wanted spectrum assigned without an auction, which India chose

Jio and Airtel both signed deals last year to distribute Starlink in India. Al Jazeera says that relationship "appears to have soured." Notably, India sided with Starlink on the spectrum question, assigning it rather than auctioning it, TechCrunch reports.

What this means for developers

• Do not plan on Starlink in India yet. No commercial service has a start date. Teams that need connectivity at remote sites should keep using existing providers.
• Expect all three operators to move together. The ministry says Starlink, and the operators linked to Jio and Airtel, are at the same stage. None of them can sell service until that review ends.
• Watch the security assessment, not the posts. The deciding step is the security review before spectrum is granted. Public arguments on X do not change that process.
• Budget for local partners. Starlink's earlier distribution deals ran through Jio and Airtel. If those ties have soured, buying service in India may look different at launch.

The next real signal is a spectrum grant to any of the three operators.