Congress Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor said on Monday, October 19, that if the Indian government’s account of its satellite licensing process is taken at face value, neither Elon Musk’s Starlink nor Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance is being favoured. Speaking to the news agency ANI, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said every company bidding is in the same process and facing the same delays, according to WebIndia123.
Key facts and why it matters
- Tharoor’s line, as quoted by ANI: “Musk is no further behind in the queue, and Ambani is no further ahead.”
- He said the outcome will turn on technology, security concerns, technical details to do with uplinking, and cost, with the cost question settled by consumers.
- The remarks respond to Musk’s complaint that Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, is licensed in over 165 countries and has spent five years complying with Indian requirements but still has no permit.
- Musk also asked on X, “Is Ambani the real boss of India?”, a reference to the Reliance Industries chairman.
- India’s Ministry of Communications has rejected claims that vested interests are targeting Starlink, saying the telecom framework, including satellite communications, is fair and non-discriminatory.
- Tharoor stopped short of endorsing or rejecting that explanation, saying the process should be allowed to play itself out.
The practical stake is that nothing moves until the permit does. Starlink has said it is ready to begin service in the country, but without a licence there is no tariff to file, no hardware to ship and no launch date to hold to — India is an application, not a market. The cost of the wait falls on specific places: Hindustan Herald identifies them as rural and remote districts, hilly terrain, island territories and border regions where fibre does not reach and 4G build-out is unfinished, and where a dish, a subscription and a clear sky are the only ground requirements. Tharoor’s position carries political weight for the same reason — an opposition MP who declines to allege favouritism also declines to generate the pressure that would force the queue to move faster.
What Tharoor said
Tharoor’s argument was conditional rather than accusatory. He said he had heard the government’s explanation, and that applied literally it leaves no applicant with an advantage, The News Mill reported. Hindustan Herald notes he was careful not to validate the explanation outright, and did not join voices accusing the government of protecting Reliance.
He also ruled himself out as a customer, telling ANI he is quite happy with his regular connections and is not looking for a Starlink — adding that in a free country, people who find the service useful should have the opportunity to get it, in remarks carried by The News Mill and WebIndia123.
On cost, Tharoor framed the decision as the subscriber’s. If one provider charges ten times another, he said, he might take the cheaper service — or pay the premium if he judged it worth ten times the money. “Each subscriber will have to decide,” he said, in the quote carried by Lokmat Times.
Price and availability: what is actually on the record
Tharoor’s “ten times” example is hypothetical, and nothing in this round of coverage replaces it with a number. None of the four reports gives a Starlink price for India, a service start date, or the licence conditions still outstanding — the very details the row is about, and the permit itself remains unissued.
The closest figure anyone offers is comparative. Hindustan Herald writes that Starlink’s global residential pricing — a monthly subscription plus an upfront hardware charge — has historically run above conventional broadband and sits well beyond middle-income Indian households. The benchmark it is measured against is Reliance’s own: the same outlet dates India’s cheap data to 2016, when Reliance entered telecom with near-free data and forced every competitor to reprice, leaving the country with some of the world’s lowest tariffs. No Indian satellite tariff has been filed publicly by either side of the dispute, and no consumer price has been published for Reliance’s rival offer either. For now, follow our running coverage of Starlink pricing rather than any figure attributed to the Indian launch.
How the row began
The sequence started with Musk’s post on X asking why Starlink had no Indian licence despite its 165-plus country authorisations and five years of compliance work, per The News Mill and WebIndia123.
Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, replied: “Welcome to India, Elon. Wait till you discover the other guy.” Musk answered on October 9, “Thank you, Rahul. This is indeed troubling.” Hindustan Herald writes that the “other guy” reference was widely understood as a nod to Ambani, and that the exchange gave the licensing delay visibility that bureaucratic timelines rarely attract. Tharoor was asked about it ten days later.
How the four reports differ
The sources agree on Tharoor’s words but not on the setting or the detail. The News Mill, WebIndia123 and Lokmat Times all attribute the interview to ANI; Hindustan Herald says only that he was speaking to a news channel. Hindustan Herald is also the only one to name the competing venture — Jio SpaceFiber, which it says runs on the SES satellite network and is positioned to compete directly with Starlink in India. The other three name no rival service, leaving the SES detail uncorroborated and best read as that outlet’s characterisation. The same report casts Musk’s post as implying Reliance used political and institutional weight to slow a foreign competitor, and calls that a serious allegation; for its part, Reliance has said Starlink is welcome in India provided it follows the rules.
Lokmat Times summarises Gandhi’s reply loosely, saying he welcomed Musk to India and alluded to similar challenges faced by others, without the verbatim line the other outlets publish. It carries a disclaimer that the piece came from a syndicated agency feed, was refined using artificial intelligence and was published without human editorial review — which makes it the weakest of the four on any point the others do not also carry.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Shashi Tharoor want a Starlink connection himself?
No. He said his existing connections suit him fine, while arguing that anyone who finds satellite internet useful should be free to buy it.
Has a Starlink price or launch date for India been published?
No. None of the four reports on Tharoor’s remarks carries an Indian tariff, a service start date or the list of licence conditions still unmet — and no consumer price has appeared for Reliance’s rival satellite service either.
Which rival is Starlink said to be up against in India?
Jio SpaceFiber, Reliance’s satellite broadband venture. Only Hindustan Herald names it among the four reports, so treat that detail — and its claim that the service runs on the SES network — as one outlet’s account rather than confirmed fact.
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