Reliance Suspends Silence on Musk, Says Jio Requires Similar Approvals as Starlink

Reliance, controlled by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, said it welcomed competition from Elon Musk’s Starlink and that its own satellite services were also awaiting authorisation, its first response to claims that Ambani was stalling the India launch of Starlink.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has frequently accused the Indian government and Ambani of blocking Starlink’s years-long effort to launch in a market with more than a billion internet subscribers. India has denied discrimination in its approval process.

The remark Friday, which did not name Musk, came days ahead of Reliance Industries’ digital business Jio Platforms seeking a $108 billion valuation in India’s largest IPO to date.

Reliance’s telecom business Jio has more than 530 million customers and is a potential competitor to Starlink in the Indian internet industry.”Reliance has never feared competition,” the company said Friday in a statement responding to “remarks about Reliance and the Indian market”, which it said was designed to “place the facts on record”.Musk has posted on X questioning if Ambani is the “real boss” of India, calling him as “Prime Minister Ambani” and asking if he would allow Starlink to compete.

The attacks are a jarring departure for Musk, who has a friendly public rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and come as New Delhi courts foreign investment and negotiates a trade accord with Washington.

Starlink, Jio’s satellite internet arm, and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb have been licensed by India but none have the security clearance needed to launch.

Satellite broadband could connect hundreds of millions of Indians who are not yet online, especially in rural and remote areas.

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