Reliance Industries has issued a strong rebuttal to Elon Musk's criticism, categorically denying allegations of market protection and emphasizing that India's regulatory framework treats all companies equally. The company stated on Friday that 'In light of recent remarks about Reliance and the Indian market, we wish to place the facts on record' and maintained that 'Like every Indian enterprise, Reliance has grown in an India that welcomes investment and innovation, homegrown or international, that improve the lives of the people'. As reported by The Times of India, Reliance specifically addressed Musk's accusations, stating that 'That openness rests on the rule of law. As the Government of India has stated, it applies the same process to every applicant, Indian or foreign'. The company rejected suggestions of opposition to competition, emphasizing that 'At Reliance, we have never feared competition. We see it as the truest test of who serves the customer best' and welcomed Musk's Starlink entry, stating 'We welcome competition in satellite communications, including Starlink. Every player, Jio included, must serve the people of India and abide by the laws and policies of the land'. This represents a significant shift from Reliance's previous stance, as the company now explicitly welcomes the competition that Musk has been advocating for. The company backed its stance by citing Jio's own record, stating that it entered India's crowded telecom market in 2016 as the newest player with not a single customer and in just 10 years, earned the trust of over 530 million customers.
According to PTI, Sunil Bharti Mittal announced that Bharti is significantly ahead of Starlink in India's satellite approval queue, with his infrastructure ready for years but security clearances still pending. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026, Mittal revealed that Bharti had applied for the required approvals five years ago, with its ground network ready for three years and satellites positioned over India for five years. As reported by PTI, Mittal stated that 'My satellites have been hovering over India for the last five years... We'll be very happy to get it at least a few days before him (Musk)' and added that 'I think I am significantly ahead in the queue from him. I applied five years back'. This positions Bharti substantially ahead of Starlink's commercial launch timeline, as reported by Reuters, which was waiting for a commercial licence from 2022 and only received approval from India's telecom ministry in June 2025, followed by a five-year commercial operations licence from IN-SPACe the following month. Mittal has also indicated that Airtel's satellite venture, Eutelsat OneWeb, could receive regulatory approval before Starlink because it applied earlier and is further along in the process.
According to Business Standard, Starlink on Friday said it has worked with Indian regulators, industry and operators for over five years and built dedicated infrastructure in the country 'all with the requisite government approvals', as the Elon Musk-led company asserted its readiness to provide high-speed internet services in India. The company stated that 'We have worked closely with regulators, industry and operators in India for 5+ years, and built a network of dedicated systems, gateways, and other infrastructure all in-country to exclusively serve Indian traffic safely and securely - and all with the requisite government approvals'. As reported by The Financial Express, Elon Musk announced on October 7, 2026, that Starlink is ready to enter India, stating that 'certain oligarchs' were blocking the service. Starlink has built 20 gateway sites in India and received approval for 4,408 satellites from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe). However, the service still requires spectrum pricing approval from the Cabinet, second round of security clearance, and foreign direct investment approval. The company has set ₹8,600 monthly plus ₹34,000 for the dish as test pricing, though these figures were later called test data by Starlink. Reliance Industries has welcomed competition from Starlink, emphasizing that all operators must comply with India's laws and policies, as reported by ET Now. However, Starlink is yet to receive clearance to launch its services in India because it has not agreed to comply with regulations requiring satellite internet providers to establish domestic infrastructure, a senior government official said earlier this week. The government has no objection to the company rolling out its services once it addresses security concerns and agrees to establish local base stations.
The controversy has drawn a firm response from the government, with Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia rejecting suggestions that the regulatory approval process favours any particular company. As reported by PTI, Scindia stated that 'India does not allow monopolies in any sector and that the Department of Telecommunications follows a technology-agnostic approach'. He confirmed that three companies — Starlink, Reliance Jio's satellite venture Jio Satcom, and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb — had secured satellite communication licences but would be permitted to begin operations only after fulfilling prescribed security requirements and regulatory milestones. The Ministry of Communications has also rejected Musk's allegations, stating that 'Security assessment as part of this process is currently under way in respect of all the three licensees'. Government sources responding to the controversy have made it clear that 'Government's position has been very clear, and was so even at the time they had applied, that if you don't follow Indian laws, you cannot do business here... So to do business here, you have to follow Indian laws'. The government has maintained that its authorisation framework for telecom and satellite services is fair and non-discriminatory, dismissing allegations of selective treatment as baseless. The distinction between a licence and operational approval is central to the dispute: securing a licence does not automatically allow a company to begin commercial services, with spectrum assignment and fulfilment of security conditions remaining key steps.
According to The Financial Express, mobile operators earn from volume with hundreds of millions of users, while Starlink operates on a different model. In rural India, 60 phone connections per 100 people compared to 151 in urban areas, with 48 rural internet subscriptions per 100 people versus 77 nationally. Starlink's test pricing of ₹8,600 monthly plus ₹34,000 for the dish is 16 times higher than Airtel's home broadband rate of ₹523 monthly. The company's approved network capacity of 600 gigabits per second over India would serve approximately 9 million users at full capacity, representing under 1% of India's 1.07 billion broadband connections as of March 2026. The dispute comes at a consequential time for Reliance, which is preparing for the initial public offering of Jio Platforms, its digital services business. Jio has set a price band of ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 a share for its offer of up to 27 crore new shares, about 3 per cent of the existing capital, with no offer-for-sale component. At the top of the band, the sale would raise about ₹30,213 crore, ahead of Hyundai Motor India's ₹27,870 crore share sale in October 2024, the country's biggest. The price implies a market value of about ₹10.3 lakh crore, short of the roughly ₹11 lakh crore the company had earlier been said to seek. Bidding runs from October 21 to 23, with anchor investors bidding on October 19, and shares are expected to begin trading on October 28.
