SpaceX Founder and CEO Elon Musk accused unnamed rivals of blocking SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband service from launching in India, in an apparent reference to telecom billionaires Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries and Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Airtel, according to Bloomberg .
"Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people," Musk posted on his social media platform X on Wednesday. "You can guess who they are... This is a crime against the people of India!"
India's Ministry of Communications rejected Musk's allegations, issuing a statement describing its satellite communications regulatory framework as "fair and non-discriminatory" and noting that all three licensed providers stood at approximately the same point in the approval process.
Starlink has received a satellite communications license in India but is still awaiting security clearances and spectrum allocation before it can begin commercial operations. A June Bloomberg report said India had put final approvals for Starlink's commercial launch on ice over security concerns, with clearances being withheld by security agencies under the country's Home Ministry.
Together, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel, India's two biggest private telecom operators, serve approximately 910 million broadband subscribers, a share exceeding 80% of India's total market, according to the latest government data. Jio and Eutelsat OneWeb — whose parent, Eutelsat, counts Bharti among its largest shareholders — have also received satellite communications licenses, but neither has fully launched commercial service.
Musk's accusations came hours after Lauren Dreyer, vice president of Starlink business operations at SpaceX, told an industry conference in New Delhi that the company had devoted five years to navigating India's regulatory process and had designed its network to meet the country's security requirements. "We are standing ready to serve India once India is ready," she said.
Dreyer disclosed that Starlink had already put in place more than 20 ground stations across India, each equipped with hundreds of antennas, and that data generated by Indian users remains stored in-country.
The attack was a striking about-face: only a year earlier, SpaceX had forged distribution agreements with both Bharti Airtel and Reliance's Jio Platforms aimed at bringing Starlink to Indian customers. Bharti Airtel stock fell as much as 1% on Thursday, while Reliance Industries stock dropped as much as 1.1%.
Starlink has crossed nine million customers globally and operates in more than 155 countries and territories, making India one of the few major markets where it has yet to launch. The service is SpaceX's largest revenue driver, with operating income doubling last year to $4.42 billion.
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel did not respond to requests for comment, according to Bloomberg.
