Musk eager to bring Starlink to India, but faces resistance from Ambani

Elon Musk is eager to bring his Starlink satellite broadband to India, but the world’s richest man faces strong resistance from Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s wealthiest, who runs Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio.
Following a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the U.S. on Tuesday, Musk said he was keen to launch Starlink in India which “can be incredibly helpful” in remote villages that have no internet or lack high-speed services.

What he didn’t talk about is how Starlink is at odds with Ambani’s Reliance over the government’s distribution of satellite broadband spectrum, setting the stage for a battle between two of the world’s richest men for satellite services in the world’s most populous nation.

Starlink is lobbying India to not auction the spectrum but just assign licences in line with a global trend, saying it is a natural resource that should be shared by companies. An auction may impose geographical restrictions that will raise costs, it said in company letters made public by the Indian government this month.

Reliance disagrees and has called for an auction in a public submission to the government, saying foreign satellite service providers could offer voice and data services and compete with traditional telecom players, and so there must be an auction to achieve a level playing field.

In signs of deepening rivalry, an industry source with direct knowledge said Reliance will continue nudging the Indian government to auction satellite spectrum, and not agree to the demands of foreign companies. Reuters