Satellite internet | The Starlink standoff

As Elon Musk alleges that vested interests are blocking Starlink's India entry, the government insists its security rules apply equally to all operatorsSPACE AND STRATEGY: Elon Musk meets PM Narendra Modi, Washington DC, Feb. 13, 2025ISSUE DATE: Oct 26, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 14:36 IST On October 7, Elon Musk, the billionaire tech entrepreneur who runs SpaceX, accused “certain oligarchs” of blocking Starlink, his company’s satellite internet service, “in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people”. “This is a crime against the people of India!” he wrote on X, in the same response to a user who said 11,256 Indian villages still lacked 4G coverage. Starlink uses a constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to deliver internet connectivity, including to areas where mobile networks and fibreoptic cables struggle to reach. The next day, Musk was more direct. Starlink, he wrote, was licensed in more than 165 countries and had spent five years complying with “every single law and requirement” of the Indian government. “Is Ambani the real boss of India?” he asked, referring to Mukesh Ambani, CMD of Reliance Industries, which owns telecom operator Reliance Jio.