Musk vs Ambani over Starlink in India: What was said, what the government says

Elon Musk escalated a public dispute over Starlink’s entry into India on October 9, addressing Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani as Prime Minister Ambani in a sarcastic post.

Musk accused Ambani of monopolistic exploitation, which is Musk’s claim and has not been independently verified.

The Ministry of Communications called claims of unfair treatment baseless and misconceived.

Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that launches wait for spectrum pricing and Home Ministry security approvals.

The reports carried no statement from Reliance or Mukesh Ambani.

Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk escalated a public dispute over Starlink’s delayed entry into India on Friday, October 9, 2026, according to Teslarati.

The dispute began on Wednesday, October 7, when Musk said Starlink was being blocked by certain oligarchs, without naming anyone, according to the same report.

On Thursday, Musk asked whether Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani is the real boss of India and said Starlink had spent five years complying with Indian government requirements.

On Friday, Musk addressed Ambani as Prime Minister Ambani in a sarcastic post on X and accused Ambani of monopolistic exploitation, according to Teslarati.

These are Musk’s claims, and the reports do not independently verify them.

Al Jazeera reported that Musk alleges Ambani is using political influence to hurt Musk’s business interests, and noted that Reliance Jio has more than 500 million subscribers in India.

The reports included no statement from Reliance or Mukesh Ambani on the dispute.

Teslarati said that Jio and Airtel together hold more than 80% of India’s telecom market.

India’s Ministry of Communications called claims that its framework is unfair or discriminatory baseless and misconceived, according to Teslarati and The Hindu.

Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday that three companies hold satcom licences: Starlink, Jio Satellite Communications and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb.

Amazon’s Kuiper, now Amazon Leo, is still in the approval process, according to Scindia.

Satellite dish antenna (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0