- Elon Musk questioned Mukesh Ambani's influence on Starlink's India license.
- Rahul Gandhi welcomed Musk, hinting at "the other guy" in India.
- Indian government stated security clearances are pending for all satcom licensees.
Starlink licence row in India got a political colour after billionaire Elon Musk replied to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's comment on his post linked to Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on Thursday. Musk shared a cryptic X post asking whether Ambani is the "real boss" of India. Hours later, Gandhi replied to him on X, writing, "Welcome to India, Elon. Wait till you discover the other guy."
Later, Musk responded to Gandhi, thanking him and expressing his displeasure. "Thank you, Rahul. This is indeed troubling," Musk's X post read. The leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha responded to Musk after he put out a post on X, saying, "Starlink is licensed in over 165 countries and has spent five years complying with every single law and requirement of the government of India, so why still no license?" "Is Ambani the real boss of India?" the US business tycoon asked.
Thank you, Rahul. This is indeed troubling.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 8, 2026
What Is The Govt Stance?
However, the Centre rejected allegations that Starlink's satellite internet services were being blocked by domestic business interests, leading Musk to ask if "Ambani is the real boss of India". The government, earlier in the day, slammed the US businessman over his allegations that Starlink's satcom services are being blocked, and made it clear that demonstrating compliance with security norms is an absolute must for every satcom licensee in the country.
What Is The Row?
The government has licensed three companies - Musk's Starlink, Reliance Jio's satellite venture Jio Satcom and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb - but none can begin commercial services until required security assessments and spectrum-related approvals are completed.
"Security assessment as part of this process is currently under way in respect of all three licensees," the telecom ministry said in a statement. Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said the issue was with the Ministry of Home Affairs and was not specific to any one company."
The Department of Telecom has issued licences to all satcom companies as well as provisional spectrum. Now the issue is pending with MHA for security clearance. As soon as it is cleared, they will get it. It has nothing to do with one company," Pemmasani told reporters on the sidelines of the India Mobile Congress. The comments came a day after Musk alleged on X that "certain oligarchs" were blocking Starlink to protect a "monopolistic chokehold" on the Indian market. He did not identify any company.
Jio Focused On Delivering Consumer Value: Akash Ambani
Jio Platforms managing director and Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani said he does not want to comment on the ongoing Starlink row, asserting that we want to be heads down and deliver value to our Indian consumers.
"From my perspective, satellite is one of the technologies. One of the biggest use cases is home broadband, right? Today we’re making sure that every Indian home has a broadband solution that we’re able to give. That’s not in the future — that is today. And satellite is only going to add to, really extend those boundaries very quickly. We’re making good progress. I think we’re building an end-to-end indigenous tech. So from my perspective, we need to make sure that this technology is on par with or leading the world," he said, speaking with Business Today.
(With PTI inputs)