Musk escalated his rhetoric on X this week, branding the continued delay of Starlink a crime against the Indian people. He accused unnamed oligarchs of maintaining a monopolistic grip on the market to block his company’s entry. India’s Ministry of Communications dismissed the allegations, asserting that its regulatory framework remains fair and non-discriminatory, with Starlink and its competitors currently undergoing identical security assessments before spectrum allocation.
Elon Musk challenges Mukesh Ambani over stalled Starlink launch in India
Elon Musk has directly challenged the influence of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, questioning whether the Reliance Industries chairman holds ultimate power in the country. The public confrontation follows years of regulatory hurdles for SpaceX’s Starlink, which remains unable to launch its satellite internet service despite securing key domestic partnerships.
Starlink has spent over five years attempting to establish a footprint in India, a market boasting more than a billion internet subscribers. Although the company has secured local regulatory approvals and appointed Prabhakar Jayakumar to spearhead operations, commercial service remains elusive. The friction is compounded by a long-standing dispute over spectrum allocation; while the government eventually opted for administrative assignment over auctions—a victory for Musk—local giants Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel continue to develop their own competing satellite broadband services. Despite Starlink’s claims of having prepared gateway sites and adapted to local data-sovereignty mandates, the path to a full-scale launch remains stalled.
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