‘Dear Prime Minister Ambani’: Musk doubles down on Starlink delay row | Business News

“Starlink has proven to be essential for saving lives during natural disasters throughout the world, when all other communications systems have failed, so you would also be helping save men, women and children throughout India,” Musk added.

Dear Prime Minister Ambani,

Please accept my humble apologies for not realizing that you are the real boss of India.

Naturally, you would prefer to maintain your monopolistic exploitation of the great people of India, but would you nonetheless consider allowing Starlink to compete?

There are many areas of India, as there are in all countries, with no Internet access, which denies children the opportunity for education and for small businesses the opportunity to sell their goods to a global market. Starlink would change their lives for the better.

Thank you 🙏

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 9, 2026

Earlier this week, Musk took to social media, blaming “certain oligarchs” for blocking Starlink in the country, and calling it a “crime against the people of India”.

The Centre has said satcom applications were pending security clearance at the Home Ministry, saying the country’s regulatory framework for satcom services is fair and non-discriminatory.

In a statement Thursday, the Ministry of Communications said, “The Government has put in place a fair and non-discriminatory authorisation framework for all telecommunication services, including satellite communication services… Under the terms and conditions of licence, every such licensee is required to demonstrate compliance with security conditions…aimed at ensuring that services provided meet various security requirements to ensure safety of all users and their data.”

“Security assessment as part of this process is currently underway in respect of all the three licensees. As and when this process is completed for a licenced entity, it may proceed to the next step of seeking assignment of spectrum. At present, all the 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,” it added.

Starlink is among the operators that have secured GMPCS (global mobile personal communication by satellite) licences and other statutory approvals needed to launch satellite communication, or satcom, services in the country. Others who have received it include Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, and Jio Satellite Communications Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms. Jeff Bezos-owned Amazon Leo is also in contention for a licence.

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal — whose company Eutelsat OneWeb is also vying to launch satcom services — dismissed Musk’s claims saying that even his venture was awaiting necessary approvals to start operations in India.

Last July, Starlink had received what industry executives said was the last regulatory approval needed to launch the service in India from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) granted authorisation to the satcom company for its satellite constellation.

Before that, the company had received an operator licence from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), three years after first applying for one.

Despite the regulatory clearance, it is understood the government is yet to green-light formal launch of these services over security concerns. The concern particularly stems from anxieties around foreign satcom operators potentially bypassing Indian gateways to offer their services, an event when the government might lose control over the service.

The delay in Starlink’s final security clearance comes as Reliance Jio is building a sovereign low earth satellite constellation in India, and is considering a 1,600–1,650 satellite network costing an estimated $10-15 billion.