Jio satellite services are also awaiting government clearances, Reliance Industries said in a public statement responding to Elon Musk’s criticism of the delay facing Starlink’s entry into India. The company said India applies the same regulatory process to domestic and foreign applicants and rejected suggestions that it fears competition in satellite communications.
Reliance said it was responding to recent remarks about the company and the Indian market to “place the facts on record”. It maintained that Indian enterprises have grown in an environment that welcomes investment and innovation, but added that such openness must operate within the rule of law.
“As the Government of India has stated, it applies the same process to every applicant, Indian or foreign. Jio’s own satellite services await clearances,” the company said. Reliance did not provide a timeline for the approvals required for Jio’s satellite services.
The statement comes after Musk criticised the regulatory hurdles facing Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by SpaceX. Musk had alleged that influential business interests were seeking to delay Starlink’s launch in India to protect existing operators. In one post on X, he sarcastically referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Prime Minister Ambani” and questioned whether Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani was the “real boss of India”.
The government has rejected allegations of discriminatory treatment. According to the report, it has said that the regulatory framework for satellite communications is fair and non-discriminatory, while security assessments of applicants remain under way. Operators must meet prescribed conditions before beginning commercial services.
Reliance also denied that it was apprehensive about Starlink’s proposed entry. “At Reliance, we have never feared competition. We see it as the truest test of who serves the customer best,” the company said.
To support that position, Reliance referred to Jio’s entry into India’s telecom market in 2016. The company said Jio entered an already crowded sector without a single customer and had, in ten years, built a base of more than 530 million customers. It also credited the business with expanding digital infrastructure and lowering data costs for Indian users.
Reliance said it welcomed competition in satellite communications, including Starlink, but stressed that every operator, including Jio, would have to serve Indian consumers while complying with the country’s laws and policies. The immediate regulatory milestone remains the completion of security assessments and other clearances required before satellite operators can begin commercial services.
