India defends satellite internet approval process after Elon Musk jab

Musk has claimed unnamed entities are blocking Starlink’s launch to maintain their monopoly.India has refuted billionaire Elon Musk’s claim that “certain oligarchs” are blocking the launch of his Starlink satellite communication services in the country.Musk said in an X post on Wednesday that Starlink was being blocked so that unnamed individuals can “maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people”, adding that it was a “crime against the people of India”.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Finland orders halt to work on Google data centre siteslist 2 of 4Apple ordered to pay $5.7bn in iPhone patent infringement caselist 3 of 4OpenAI ‘reviewing’ report of failed hacking attempt against Canada’s gov’tlist 4 of 4Trump backs AI self-regulation at tech summit but is it enough?end of listBut India’s Ministry of Communications defended its satellite internet approval process as being fair and non-discriminatory in a statement on Thursday.“The suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived,” the ministry said without naming Starlink or Musk.It added that three different entities were at broadly the same regulatory stage and that all were undergoing security assessments.India’s telecommunications sector is dominated by Reliance Jio, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, and Bharti Airtel, owned by Sunil Mittal.Both have also ventured into satellite internet. While they have secured early approvals to launch, they are still awaiting final clearances.Musk has previously had run-ins with Ambani and Mittal over how India should grant them spectrum access. Last year, the two agreed to distribute Starlink systems alongside theirs, but the cooperation appears to have soured.Starlink has waited since 2022 for licences to operate commercially in India. Last year, it received a key licence from the Communications Ministry to launch, as well as a go-ahead from India’s space agency.