An Indian think tank has warned that Starlink’s expansion would place a foreign-controlled network at the centre of India’s communications infrastructure. The paper, ‘Starlink and Risks for India’, is the work of the Takshashila Institution; Moneycontrol reported its findings on 10 October 2026 — a day before Elon Musk renewed his public attack on Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani over the delay to Starlink’s Indian launch.
Key facts
- Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite broadband service, operates the world’s largest satellite constellation, with more than 10,000 active satellites in low Earth orbit, accounting for nearly two-thirds of all operational satellites, according to the paper as summarised by Moneycontrol.
- The authors said Starlink was adding more than 3,000 satellites a year by 2025, with long-term plans to deploy as many as 42,000.
- Three companies hold Indian satellite communication licences — Starlink, Reliance Jio’s satellite venture Jio Satcom and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb — Union communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday, National Herald reported.
- Scindia said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Telecommunications were nearing a final decision on the pricing framework for satellite spectrum.
- Musk, posting on X on Sunday, called the arguments of Ambani’s supporters “absurd hypocrisy and hyperbole”, per National Herald.
Why it matters
On the minister’s own account, the start date turns on two unresolved steps: the price New Delhi sets for satellite spectrum, and whether each licensee individually clears its security conditions. Neither has a deadline, and no licensed operator has yet been cleared to begin service, so satellite internet for India’s underserved areas stays on hold. There is also no Starlink price for Indian customers in the public record — neither outlet reported a figure, and SpaceX has published none; Musk said only that the service would have to be priced affordably because nobody in India would buy it if it were too expensive. Takshashila treats the delay as an opportunity to settle who controls the switch before the network is embedded; Musk casts it as protection for an incumbent.
What the Takshashila paper argues
SpaceX retains operational control of the constellation, including decisions on where Starlink services are available, the paper said. As users and critical services grow more dependent on the network, reducing that reliance or replacing it becomes harder.
Its central precedent is Ukraine, which began using Starlink in February 2022 after Russia’s invasion and came to rely on it for government and military communications. The authors pointed to a July 2023 New York Times investigation that reported Musk had restricted access several times through geo-fencing and had refused a Ukrainian military request to activate service near Crimea — the clearest documented case of a commercial operator’s own decisions shaping wartime connectivity.
The report also examined Musk’s ties to the US government. He played a prominent role in Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and later became the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency; the two had a public fall out in 2025 but have maintained a political relationship, according to Moneycontrol’s summary.
SpaceX launches satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office and the US Space Force, supports missile warning and tracking, and carries out human spaceflight and Artemis missions for NASA. On that basis the authors argued Musk could use his standing in Washington to advance Starlink’s commercial interests, potentially including diplomatic pressure on New Delhi if Indian rules conflict with the company’s plans.
That relationship cuts both ways, they wrote: because SpaceX depends on US government contracts, regulatory approvals, spectrum allocations and orbital licences, Washington could in turn pressure the company to share data collected in India, maintain connectivity in certain regions or restrict services elsewhere if American and Indian interests diverged.
Competition offers little near-term relief, the paper added. Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, could eventually emerge as a rival to Starlink, but closing the gap may take several years — leaving India with one dominant provider through the period when dependence would take hold.
These are the arguments of one private think tank, not a government finding, and Starlink News has not reviewed the full text; the account above follows Moneycontrol’s report, which cites no other analysts or Indian officials contesting the operational-control claim. Scindia’s remarks on Friday dealt with monopolies, technology neutrality and spectrum pricing rather than the control question, and Musk’s reply to Ambani’s supporters addressed competition and affordability rather than the paper.
Why existing Indian safeguards may not settle it
India requires satellite operators to use domestic gateways, comply with government monitoring requirements and follow rules on data handling, Moneycontrol noted. The paper argued these do not fully resolve the question of operational control: Indian authorities could penalise Starlink for regulatory violations but might be unable to compel SpaceX to keep connectivity running during a crisis, or to switch it off when national security demanded. The result, it warned, could be a service “unavailable when India needs it” or still “operational when authorities want it stopped”.
Musk escalates against Ambani
Musk questioned how Ambani’s supporters could claim both that Starlink could not compete with the low prices of Ambani’s telecom business and that Starlink would be too strong a competitor, National Herald reported. He argued that competition would give Indians more choice and that Ambani’s profits would be lower but his business would not fail.
On Saturday, Musk shared screenshots of media reports alleging that a Reliance-funded firm helped amplify BJP campaigns on social media and that a Reliance-linked company made large political donations, the outlet said. One was a 2022 Al Jazeera article, ‘How a Reliance-funded firm boosts BJP’s campaigns on Facebook’; the other was an archived 2024 Indian Express report on Qwik Supply, which it said donated Rs 385 crore to the BJP and Rs 25 crore to the Shiv Sena through electoral bonds. Musk had earlier addressed Ambani as “Prime Minister Ambani”, accusing him of protecting a monopoly.
He also pointed to parts of India without internet access, arguing satellite broadband could help children’s education and let small businesses reach global customers, and said Starlink had restored communications during natural disasters elsewhere when conventional networks failed.
Where the licensing stands
Speaking at a briefing during the India Mobile Congress, Scindia said India does not permit monopolies in any sector and that the Department of Telecommunications is technology agnostic, with customers free to choose in a market offering a range of services, according to National Herald. He said licensed operators must individually meet the required security conditions and other regulatory milestones before starting operations — the same obstacle that India’s security rules have kept Starlink waiting on spectrum over.
On Starlink News’s reading of the two markets, licensing rather than launch capacity is what sets the timetable: Starlink remains unlicensed in South Africa, as this site has reported, where the company still has no approval to sell the service years after launching the constellation — the outcome India’s three licensees are trying to avoid by clearing their security conditions first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Amazon applied to operate satellite internet in India?
Union communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said Amazon’s Project Kuiper had expressed interest in entering the Indian market but would have to follow the established regulatory process, National Herald reported.
How have Reliance and the Indian government responded to Musk’s allegations?
Reliance has not publicly responded to Musk’s latest allegations, according to National Herald. The Indian government has said its authorisation framework for telecommunications and satellite services is “fair and non-discriminatory” and described suggestions that it is being applied selectively as “baseless and misconceived”.
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