Elon Musk hits out at ‘certain oligarchs’ for blocking Starlink in India

Elon Musk accused unnamed rivals of blocking SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband network in India, an apparent swipe at billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal.

SpaceX has been awaiting approval from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to offer Starlink service in India, where companies controlled by Ambani’s Reliance Industries and Mittal’s Bharti Airtel have spent years building formidable positions in telecoms.

“Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people,” Musk said on social media. “You can guess who they are …”

India’s two biggest private telecoms operators, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel, together account for roughly 910 million broadband subscribers, more than 80 per cent of the country’s market, according to the latest government data.

Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent after regular business hours.

India had effectively frozen final approvals for Starlink’s commercial launch due to security concerns. Security agencies under the country’s home ministry withheld clearances for the low-Earth orbit service to begin operations, people familiar with the matter said in June.

Starlink has secured a satellite communications licence in India but is still waiting for the security clearances as well as spectrum before it can switch on commercially.

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Speaking at an industry conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, Lauren Dreyer, vice-president of Starlink business operations, said the company has spent five years working with Indian regulators and had built its network specifically around the country’s security requirements, with “controls at every layer” and Indian user data kept within India.

“We’re standing ready to serve India once India is ready,” she said.

Bharti is one of the largest shareholders in Eutelsat Communications, operator of the Eutelsat OneWeb satellite network that is one of Starlink’s biggest low-Earth orbit competitors worldwide. Airtel has separately partnered with SpaceX to offer Starlink to its Indian customers, an illustration of the complicated alliances emerging around the market.

Reliance has its own satellite ambitions through Jio Satellite Communications and its joint venture with Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES. Jio, OneWeb and Starlink are among the three companies that have received India’s satellite-communications licences, although none has yet fully switched on commercial service.

Jio Platforms, Reliance’s telecoms and digital services arm, is preparing for what may be the biggest initial public offering in India’s history later this month.