Elon Musk fumes at ‘oligarchs’ block Starlink India entry ‘a crime against Indian people’
By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk on Wednesday has slammed unnamed “oligarchs” for blocking the Starlink’s entry into the country’s telecom sector as it awaits its final regulatory approval to formally launch its satellite internet services in India.
Musk alleged that certain oligarchs are trying to protect their “monopolistic chokehold” on Indian consumers.
Musk said on X in response to a post that highlighted the gaps in India’s rural and urban connectivity “Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people. You can guess who they are,”.
He described the alleged attempts at blocking Starlink’s India entry as “a crime against the people of India.”
Musk responded to on X argued that India needs Starlink as it could provide an alternative route to high-speed internet in remote villages, mountains and islands where laying fibre cable is difficult.
According to the post, 11,256 of India’s listed villages still lacked 4G coverage as of May 2026.
The number is insignificant as it is only 1.75% of India’s 644,131 villages per Registrar General of India data in official parliamentary records.
It means 98.25 per cent of Indian villages have access to 4G network.
The post also claimed that India had 1.093 billion internet subscriptions in March 2026, but only 440.87 million were rural. Rural subscription density was 48.31 per 100 people, compared with 126.80 in urban India.
According to the post, BharatNet had laid over 850,000 route-km of fibre and made about 221,000 Gram Panchayats service-ready. However, its Points of Presence were reported operational at only 80,472 Gram Panchayats in June 2026.
Starlink has received key regulatory nods in India, including a 5-year commercial operations license from IN-SPACe and a GMPCS permit from the Department of Telecommunications, it still awaits final government clearances to roll out full commercial services.
According to Vice President of Starlink Business Operations, Lauren Dreyer, the company has already built 20 gateway sites in India.
It has also developed India-specific security controls designed to keep Indian users’ data within India.
Musk highlighted the gaps in India’s rural and remote connectivity and argued that Starlink could provide an alternative route to high-speed internet in underserved parts of the country.
According to the post, 11,256 listed villages in India still lacked 4G coverage as of May 2026. While India had 1.093 billion internet subscriptions in March 2026, only 440.87 million were rural subscriptions.
Rural internet subscription density stood at 48.31 per 100 people, compared with 126.80 in urban areas.
