India denies Elon Musk's claim Starlink 'blocked by oligarchs'

India on Thursday denied Elon Musk's claim that “certain oligarchs” were blocking Starlink's satellite communication services in the country to maintain their monopoly, terming it baseless.

Without directly naming Musk, India’s Communications Ministry said in a statement that the government has put in place a fair and non-discriminatory authorisation framework for all telecommunication services, including satellite communication services.

It said telecom licences have been granted to three global mobile personal communication by Satellite services based on “non-geosynchronous satellite orbit based satellite communications.”

The statement said security assessment “as part of this process is currently under way in respect of all the three licensees,” and “all three entities are at broadly the same regulatory stage.”

“As such, the suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived,” the ministry said.

Starlink, a division of Musk's company SpaceX, has rapidly expanded its global presence, operating in more than 150 countries and territories. The company provides internet connectivity to remote or underserved areas using a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites.

Two Indian telecom companies, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, signed pacts with SpaceX last year to bring Starlink internet services to the country.

Musk wrote on his platform X that “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!,” he said, responding to a post related to Starlink operations in the world's most populous nation.

India has 958 million internet users, with over 70 per cent internet penetration rate.

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Musk in Washington, DC, to discuss space, mobility, technology and governance.