Elon Musk joins India Satcom chorus, says Starlink will 'do its best'

Kolkata: Starlink, a global satellite internet service provider owned by Elon Musk, will "do its best to serve the people of India," the US billionaire said, setting the stage for a battle with India's top telcos Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel for a slice of the world's second largest telecom market.

Musk's post on X came after international citizen journalist DogeDesigner, reckoned to be close to Musk, separately posted on X on Wednesday after the Indian government said it will allot spectrum for satellite broadband service administratively and not via auctions. "This is good news for Starlink...(especially) after Musk criticised the auction route being sought by (Indian) billionaire (and RIL chairman) Mukesh Ambani," DogeDesigner tweeted.

On Tuesday, India's communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said spectrum for satellite services would be allocated administratively but at a cost that would be decided by the regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).


His comments came on a day when Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal joined Ambani in making a case for auction of spectrum for satcom services, arguing that in future, satcom can well offer similar services as telcos do, and thus, both sides should have a similar mode to access airwaves.