Elon Musk’s feud with Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani over the delay in satellite internet services being launched in India through Starlink has risen to a new level in the public domain. On Friday, the SpaceX and Tesla boss gave his friend Ambani yet another dig in the ribs with a slanderous post on his social media platform X.
Elon Musk addressed Ambani by the formal title “Prime Minister Ambani”, and sarcastically apologised for not recognising him to be the “real boss of India.” He doubted if Ambani would let Starlink provide services in India, given the fact that the incumbent firms are trying to maintain their dominance in India.
But in the interests of serving the underserved part of India, musk had also contended that Starlink could be helpful in India in improving the Internet connectivity. Improved connectivity would provide children with more education and allow small business to get closer to their customers in international markets, he said. He also spoke on the satellite service’s usefulness in providing communications in the event of a natural disaster.
The new remarks came on the heels of Elon Musk’s previous claims a few days ago that Starlink’s plans to go to India were being hindered by “oligarchs” tasked with defending incumbent telecom providers. The government denied the claim, saying that the nation’s satellite communications regulatory system was fair and nondiscriminatory.
SpaceX’s Starlink is one of three satellite communication service providers to receive licences from the Centre. The other two are Eutelsat OneWeb with Bharti and Jio Satellite Communications, a subsidiary of Jio Platforms.
A licence doesn’t necessarily mean that commercial operations are allowed to proceed. To deploy services, companies have to comply with requirements for security measures and go through the necessary steps to secure the spectrum and meet other regulatory obligations.
The Ministry of Communications stated that security evaluations are underway and that it would refuse charges that the application process discriminates against Starlink. The issue has brought the satellite Internet segment to India’s attention, and the fine line between connectivity and national security versus uniform regulation.
Hence the commercial launch of Starlink in India is still subject to the approvals that need to be done.