Elon Musk has accused unnamed Indian business interests of blocking Starlink’s entry into India. He wrote on X that oligarchs were protecting their monopolistic hold on the market.

Starlink, part of Musk’s SpaceX, has waited about four years to launch in India. It has a licence for satellite internet but is still awaiting security clearances and spectrum assignment.

India’s telecom ministry rejected the claim. It said the rules apply uniformly to all companies. Starlink, Jio Satcom and Eutelsat OneWeb are all at the same stage, it said.

The Indian market is dominated by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel. Both hold over 80 per cent market share. Musk signed distribution deals with both firms in 2025.

Deloitte has forecast India’s satellite broadband market will be worth 1.9 billion dollars by 2030. The ministry said spectrum can be assigned only after security checks are complete. Musk had earlier been at odds with Ambani and Mittal over spectrum policy. They set aside their differences in 2025 to sign Starlink distribution deals.