NEW DELHI: Elon Musk on October 10 escalated his war of words with Mukesh Ambani over Starlink’s long-delayed entry into India, accusing the Reliance chairman’s online supporters of “absurd hypocrisy and hyperbole” and dubbing them “Ambani’s army of Internet shills”.
In a post on X, Musk said his critics were simultaneously arguing two contradictory things: that Starlink “couldn’t possibly compete with the amazing low prices offered by Ambani’s de facto monopoly in India” — and that Starlink “would be too strong of a competitor”. “Which one is it?” Musk asked, in a barb that drew a fresh round of attention to a standoff now in its fourth day.
Musk argued that competition from Starlink “would greatly benefit the average citizen in India by giving them more choices”. “Ambani’s profits will be lower, but he is not going out of business,” he wrote, adding that if Starlink’s pricing turned out to be too expensive, “no one will buy it, so SpaceX will need to make pricing affordable”.
The row began on October 8, when Musk claimed Starlink is licensed in more than 165 countries and has spent five years complying with Indian rules, pointedly asking: “Is Ambani the real boss of India?” A day later, he addressed Ambani as “Prime Minister Ambani”, accusing him of “monopolistic exploitation” of the Indian telecom market.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi weighed in on October 9, replying to Musk on X: “Welcome to India, Elon. Wait till you discover the other guy.”
On October 10, Musk went further, sharing screenshots of a 2022 Al Jazeera report titled “How a Reliance-funded firm boosts BJP’s campaigns on Facebook” and a 2024 Indian Express report on Qwik Supply, a Reliance-linked firm that donated Rs 385 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena via electoral bonds. Reliance has not publicly responded to any of Musk’s claims so far.
The government, meanwhile, moved to douse the controversy. Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, speaking at the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi on October 9, declared: “India does not allow a monopoly in any sector,” adding that the Department of Telecommunications remains “technology agnostic”. He confirmed that three companies now hold GMPCS licences — Starlink, Reliance Jio’s Jio Satcom and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb — and that all three can begin operations only after meeting security conditions and receiving spectrum assignment. TRAI and the DoT are close to finalising satcom spectrum pricing, he said.
In a statement issued on October 8, the government said India’s authorisation framework is “fair and non-discriminatory”, that all three licensees are “at broadly the same regulatory stage”, and that claims of selective treatment are “baseless and misconceived”. On October 11, Parliamentary IT Panel chief Nishikant Dubey added that India “won’t change its security policy under pressure”.
Underlying the clash is the unresolved debate over how satcom spectrum should be allotted. Indian telecom operators back auctioning of satcom spectrum, while foreign players like Starlink favour administrative allocation. The 10th edition of the India Mobile Congress, held in New Delhi, has become the stage on which the dispute is playing out — with Musk betting that a direct, combative pitch will break a five-year logjam, and New Delhi insisting the process will run its course on its own terms.
