By Munsif Vengattil
BENGALURU, Oct 8 (Reuters) - India defended its satellite internet approval process as fair and non-discriminatory on Thursday, hours after billionaire Elon Musk accused unnamed "oligarchs" of blocking Starlink's launch in the South Asian nation.
Starlink was being blocked by "certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people," Musk wrote on X, without naming anyone.
India's telecom market is dominated by billionaires Mukesh Ambani's Reliance
Jio and Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel. Their satellite internet ventures, alongside Musk's Starlink, have secured early approvals to launch in India but are awaiting spectrum assignment and final clearances.
Airtel and Jio did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The wait has stretched on for four years for Starlink, following scrutiny over security requirements and access to spectrum.
Responding to Musk's comments, India's telecommunications ministry said three entities were at broadly the same regulatory stage, with security assessments under way for each. It did not name the companies or Musk.
"The suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived," the ministry said in a statement.
The clash is not new. Musk has previously been at odds with Mittal and Ambani over how India should grant them spectrum, before the three set aside their differences in 2025 to sign separate deals to distribute Starlink devices in India.
India offers Starlink, part of Musk's SpaceX, access to a satellite broadband market that Deloitte has forecast will be worth $1.9 billion by 2030.
The timing adds a diplomatic layer: the US has pushed Starlink's market access as a goodwill marker in trade talks with tariff-hit countries, and New Delhi and Washington have struggled to finalise a trade deal since reaching a framework in February.
Security concerns have also followed the recovery of Starlink equipment in India. Indian authorities have said they found Starlink devices in two separate operations in late 2024: a drug seizure by police in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and an army search in Manipur state.
Musk then said Starlink's satellite beams were "turned off over India" and were "never on in the first place", a remark he repeated on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
