India rejects Elon Musk's "oligarchs" claim, says Starlink faces no bias in satellite approvals
India's Ministry of Communications has dismissed Elon Musk's claim that "certain oligarchs" are blocking Starlink in India as "baseless and misconceived", insisting all three satellite licensees face the same security assessment.
New Delhi: India’s Ministry of Communications on Thursday rejected Elon Musk’s claim that “certain oligarchs” are blocking Starlink’s entry into India, calling the allegation “baseless and misconceived” and insisting the country’s satellite-communications framework is fair and non-discriminatory (Times Now, Economic Times).
The ministry said licences have been granted to three Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) operators using non-geosynchronous orbit systems, and every licensee must demonstrate compliance with security conditions before proceeding to spectrum assignment (NDTV).
“A security assessment as part of this process is currently under way in respect of all the three licensees,” the ministry said, adding that once an entity completes it, it may proceed to seek spectrum assignment — and that “at present, all the three entities are at broadly the same regulatory stage.”
The rebuttal came after Musk posted on X on Wednesday that “we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people,” adding: “You can guess who they are … This is a crime against the people of India!” (ET Now). ET Now identified the three licensees as Musk-owned Starlink, Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance-backed Jio Satellite Communications.
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