Elon Musk has accused unnamed “oligarchs” of blocking Starlink’s entry into India, saying they are trying to maintain a “monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people”. Musk didn’t name anyone, but dared readers to work out who he meant.
“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 …” Musk wrote on X. “This is a crime against the people of India!”
The post was a reply to Doge Designer, who had argued that India needs Starlink and backed the case with a long list of connectivity statistics.
The connectivity gap
According to the figures cited in that post, 11,256 of India’s listed villages still lacked 4G coverage as of May 2026. India had 1.093 billion internet subscriptions in March 2026, but only 440.87 million of them were rural. Rural subscription density stood at 48.31 per 100 people, compared with 126.80 in urban India.
The post also pointed to the limits of India’s flagship rural broadband programme. BharatNet has laid over 850,000 route-km of fibre and made about 221,000 Gram Panchayats service-ready, but its Points of Presence were reported operational at only 80,472 Gram Panchayats in June 2026. Only 4.26% of India’s internet subscriptions were wired connections in March 2026.
The government itself identifies difficult terrain, low commercial viability and infrastructure constraints as reasons for the remaining coverage gaps. Those are exactly the places where a satellite network, which doesn’t need fibre or towers, is meant to help.
Starlink says it is ready
Starlink has already built 20 gateway sites in India, according to Lauren Dreyer, SpaceX’s Vice President of Starlink Business Operations, who spoke at India Mobile Congress. Dreyer said Starlink is ready to help achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of 100% connectivity across India. She highlighted its potential to connect remote classrooms, support telemedicine and restore connectivity after disasters, adding, “With Starlink, people can get connected within minutes, not years.”
Starlink says it has developed India-specific security controls designed to keep Indian user data within India. It also says portable terminals, which have supported disaster response elsewhere in the world, could give Indian emergency teams backup connectivity when floods, earthquakes or storms damage ground networks. Its Direct to Cell service could eventually help ordinary 4G phones connect beyond tower coverage, subject to Indian approvals and mobile operator partnerships.
The post called on India to complete the remaining clearances and spectrum allocation so that Starlink can begin commercial service.
A long road to India
Starlink’s India journey has been a long one. The company first tried to enter the Indian market in 2021, and the debate over how satellite spectrum should be assigned became a flashpoint. Starlink and other global players favoured administrative allocation, while Reliance wanted an auction.
The dispute spilled onto X in 2024, when Musk called the auction idea “unprecedented” and responded to a meme showing Mukesh Ambani recoiling from a rabbit meant to represent Starlink. The government later sided with allocation over auction.
Musk’s latest post doesn’t say which “oligarchs” he believes are blocking Starlink now, and no one named in the speculation has responded to the claim in the material we’ve seen. Starlink has also not said which specific approvals are still pending.
Concerns over security and dependence
Not everyone is convinced that a fast rollout is in India’s interest. Security concerns around Starlink have been raised in the country, including worries about how the technology could allow misuse by terrorists and other bad actors, given that satellite terminals can work in remote areas outside conventional networks. There is also a broader strategic question: whether India should get its internet from a company run by someone close to the US administration, and what that could mean for a service that rural India may come to depend on.