Elon Musk hits out at ‘oligarchs’ for blocking Starlink in India

Elon Musk has hit out at unnamed "oligarchs" over the long wait for Starlink's launch in India. In a post on X, the SpaceX founder said the satellite internet service was being stopped "to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people", and added: "You can guess who they are." He did not name anyone.

Starlink has a licence to offer satellite internet services in India, but it is still waiting for security clearances and spectrum band allocation before it can start commercial services, Bloomberg reported. The company says it has built 20 gateway sites and India-specific security controls, and is ready to begin once India gives the go-ahead.

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!— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2026 What Musk said Musk made the remarks while replying to a post which argued that India needs Starlink to bring faster internet to areas where phone towers and fibre cables are hard to build.

"This is a crime against the people of India!" he added. In another post, he said Starlink would give fast and affordable internet to people who cannot pay current prices or have no connection at all. Starlink in India would enable high-speed, affordable Internet connectivity for those who can’t afford current prices or who don’t have a connection at all!— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2026 Bloomberg reported Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel did not reply to its requests for comment, which were sent after regular business hours.

Where Starlink's approval stands India has given satellite communication licences to three companies: Starlink, Jio and OneWeb. None of them has yet switched on a full commercial service, Bloomberg said. India had effectively frozen final approval for Starlink's commercial launch because of security worries, Bloomberg said.

People familiar with the matter told the news agency in June that security agencies under the home ministry were holding back clearances. Lauren Dreyer, Starlink's vice president of business operations, said at an industry event in New Delhi on Wednesday that the company had spent five years working with Indian regulators.

She said Starlink had built its network around India's security rules and would keep Indian user data inside the country. "We're standing ready to serve India once India is ready," she said, according to Bloomberg. Starlink has built 20 gateway sites across India, with hundreds of antennas, and set up India-specific security controls.

The companies in the frame Musk's post as an apparent swipe at billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal. Their companies, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, together have about 910 million broadband subscribers, which is more than 80 per cent of the market, based on the latest government data.

Musk did not name them. The business ties are mixed. Bharti is one of the biggest shareholders in Eutelsat, which runs the OneWeb satellite network, a major rival to Starlink worldwide. Yet Airtel has also teamed up with SpaceX to offer Starlink to its Indian customers. Reliance has its own satellite plans through Jio Satellite Communications and a joint venture with SES, based in Luxembourg.

Its arm Jio Platforms is also preparing for what could be the biggest initial public offering in India's history later this month, Bloomberg said.