Indians deserve better internet, but we don't need Starlink or gaslighting from Musk

Elon Musk is angry that Starlink is not available in India. Elon Musk, who sells Teslas, is happy that BYD cars are not available in the US. Elon Musk is probably neither happy nor angry that Huawei has been virtually kicked out of America. Elon Musk is likely pleased that his countrymen, part of a conglomerate, recently acquired portions of TikTok after the Chinese company was arm-twisted by the US government in selling its US business.Elon Musk probably has many moods. They all tend to reflect on X, a website that he owns, depending on which of his moods is going to be most suitable to his business fortunes and the strategic interests of the US government.This is the reason why even though I agree with Elon Musk in believing that Indians deserve better internet services, better connectivity on their phones and laptops, I do not for a minute believe that we need to get it from Starlink. I also do not believe that Mr Musk has the best interests of Indians at his heart when he terms non-availability of Starlink “a crime against the people of India!”Elon Musk is a savvy businessman, who often operates at that intersection where his financial fortunes and the US government interests meet. He is not merely a telecom tycoon via the virtue of owning Starlink, which beams the internet on Earth using satellites. He is not merely a rocket man who sends payloads after payloads to space. He is not a mere owner of X who posts 50 times a day on social media. He is not just the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Instead, he is a key player in some extremely strategic industries and technologies, the kind that make him arguably one of the most important strategic assets of the US government. On Wednesday night, Musk shared a post from one of his favourite X accounts, which argued for availability of Starlink in India. To the post he added his own colourful commentary. He said, “Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people. You can guess who they are This is a crime against the people of India!”Musk, who is perennially online like a common troll despite being the world’s richest person, then spent the next 24 hours or so gaslighting India with his one-word and one-line quips. His charge: by withholding approval for Starlink India is doing a disservice to its own citizens. In the process, he also sparked a debate which has been intense enough to draw a statement from the Indian government, which has denied the charges Musk has levied. Although, it is safe to say neither Musk nor the Indian government are using the words contained in their statements in good faith. They both are leaving plenty unsaid. They both are trying to gaslight each other. In one aspect I agree with Musk. Indians do deserve better internet and more reliable connectivity, more so in the remote parts of the country. I agree with Musk that something like Starlink would be incredibly helpful for businesses operating in smaller towns of the country. Satellite internet is a wonder technology and there is no reason why Indians should not have access to it. Imagine getting excellent internet in a resort in the Himalayas. Or getting fast internet connectivity in holiday huts within the jungles of the Western Ghats. Such connectivity has potential to supercharge tourism, enable better services, even better communication during disasters or crisis.At the same time, Musk is right about the status of the Indian telecom industry. For reasons best known to our regulators and the government, Indian telecom space is now dominated by two companies — Airtel and Jio. Similar is the scene in the airline industry, where too consumers don’t have as much choice as they should get.When an industry doesn’t have challengers, when the barriers to entry are high, when the entrenched companies tend to operate with a regulatory shield, it eventually is a loss for consumers. Go out on the road and ask people if they are satisfied with whatever phone service and internet they use, and you will struggle to find 100 happy consumers.In India, data is extremely cheap. But reliability of the service is nearly and universally terrible. “Hello hello can you hear me” might as well be how we greet each other on the phone when we pick up our calls. The poor state of our phone networks, 5G or otherwise, is largely also due to lack of competition. India deserves better.But this better doesn’t need to be Starlink. In fact, India would do better to ensure that Indians do not get satellite connectivity and faster internet from Starlink and Elon Musk. The question around Starlink security is hardly a secret. This is a service that the US government seems to use in a way that furthers American strategic interests. And Mr Musk doesn’t mind. In fact, he tends to cheer it when Starlink is weaponised and used by the allies of the US government, such as Ukrainians and Israelis.In the last five years we have seen the US government and Elon Musk often acting together in deploying Starlinks in strategically important areas. In Ukraine, Starlink terminals have served as the backbone of the Ukrainian offence against Russians. In Iran, meanwhile, Elon Musk has ordered activation of Starlink connectivity so that the units, allegedly smuggled with the help of Israeli intelligence agencies, can be used. These are not the actions of a businessman who is fighting on behalf of users. These are the cases where Starlink has been used by nation states against other nations with full approval of Musk.Indian government officials might not be telling the whole truth on Starlink approvals in the country but they are not wrong. The small Starlink antennas, which can be carried in cars and even backpacks, do have a security angle to them, the kind that no self-respecting country is going to ignore.India must not give in to gaslighting from Musk. We live in fractured times where all countries, and mostly the US, are weaponising the technology that their top companies sell across the world. To navigate such a world the Indian government is right in being cautious. Though I do feel that along with caution our government should also try to push the interests of Indian users by facilitating more competition in various industries, including in telecom. But it is, as we often say, our internal matter. We don’t need to make Musk a part of it.- Ends