India rejects Musk’s claim oligarchs are blocking Starlink

Elon Musk said on Wednesday that "certain oligarchs" are keeping Starlink out of India. On Thursday, India's government rejected the charge, saying SpaceX's satellite internet service is being treated the same as its two licensed rivals.reuters+1

"Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people," Musk wrote on X. "You can guess who they are… This is a crime against the people of India!" He named no one and offered no evidence. Reuters noted that India's telecom market is dominated by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel. Musk later posted asking whether "Ambani is the real boss of India," Business Insider reported.businessinsider+5

Ministry calls claim "baseless"

In a statement issued through the Press Information Bureau, the Ministry of Communications said it has a "fair and non-discriminatory authorisation framework." It said security assessments are underway for all three licensed operators: Starlink, Jio Satcom and Eutelsat OneWeb. "At present, all the three entities are at broadly the same regulatory stage. As such, the suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived," the ministry said. An operator can apply for spectrum only after its security assessment is finished.techcrunch+5

The prime minister's office also posted on X that telecom and digital technologies need "airtight and foolproof" security. Asked about Musk's comments at India Mobile Congress, Mittal said, "We are waiting for our own approvals". Eutelsat OneWeb asked for immediate security clearance in September, more than 18 months after it ran its compliance demonstration, Inc42 reported.telegraphindia+2

Starlink says it is "ready"

Musk's posts came hours after Lauren Dreyer, Starlink's vice president of business operations, spoke at India Mobile Congress in New Delhi. She said the company had built "20 gateway sites comprising hundreds of antennas" and keeps Indian user data inside the country. "We are standing ready to serve India once India is ready," she said.finance.yahoo+2

Shares of Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel fell on Thursday.finance.yahoo

A long wait

Starlink first applied for a commercial license in 2022 and received one in 2025. Security concerns have followed the service since Indian authorities found Starlink devices during a drug seizure in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and an army operation in Manipur in late 2024. Musk repeated on Wednesday that Starlink's beams are "turned off over India". In June, Bloomberg reported that regulators had frozen Starlink's approvals, a report Dreyer denied at the time.cnbc+4

In 2025, SpaceX signed distribution deals with both Jio and Airtel. Both companies are also building their own satellite services. Reuters said the dispute has a diplomatic side: Washington has used Starlink's access to foreign markets as a bargaining point in trade talks, and the U.S. and India have yet to finalize a trade deal.reuters+1