Why doesn't India have Starlink yet?
Why doesn't India have Starlink yet?
One delay. Three statements. Earlier this month.
Elon Musk publicly blamed Mukesh Ambani for Starlink not launching in India. Reports noted he didn't share any evidence.
The Ministry of Communications replied the same week, calling its rules "fair and non-discriminatory."
Reliance has pushed back on the allegations too, as reports say.
So what is actually going on?
What Starlink actually is: satellite internet. No tower, no cable Satcom = internet beamed from satellites, instead of cables or mobile towers.
A small dish on your roof talks to satellites passing overhead.
Where it got stuck.
Starlink has been trying to launch in India since 2022. In 2025 it got its main telecom licence, and then the space regulator's go-ahead.
Two steps are still left: the security check, and spectrum Spectrum = the radio frequencies a company needs government permission to use.
Then it got stuck on those last two steps.
Same stage for everyone. The ministry says all three licensed satellite operators are roughly level: licence done, security check in progress, spectrum still to come.
Why so careful? Indian authorities have said they found Starlink devices during a drug seizure in the Andaman Islands, and during an army operation in Manipur.
All three operators are still in security assessment.
The twist nobody is talking about.
In March 2025, a day apart, Airtel (11 March) and Jio (12 March) both signed deals to sell Starlink in India.
Jio's part: sell Starlink kits in its stores and online, and help with installation, once the approvals come through.
Matlab the two sides of this public fight already have a signed deal with each other.
Ek aur baat. The price.
Reports say Starlink has listed a home plan in India at ₹8,600 a month, plus a ₹34,000 kit.
The average Jio user pays ₹215.6 a month.
Starlink costs roughly 40 times that.
So who is it really for? Villages, ships, mountains.
It isn't coming for your phone plan. It's for the places cables and towers never reached.
The Brutal Reality:
Starlink's satellites already fly over India every day.
What's missing is permission to use them here.
Whoever wins the argument online, the launch date will come from a government file, not a tweet.
✍🏻 Mantra Joshi
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