‘We’ll be very happy to get it at least a few days before him’: Sunil Bharti Mittal on Musk’s Starlink satellite internet approval in India

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said he was ahead of Elon Musk’s Starlink in the queue for satellite services approvals in India, adding that his company had been waiting for clearances despite having its ground network ready for three years.

“We are all awaiting our approvals. I think I am significantly ahead in the queue from him. I applied five years back. I have my ground network ready for the last three years. My satellites have been hovering over India for the last five years,” Mittal said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026.

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“We don’t have the permission, so we’ll be very happy to get it at least a few days before him,” he added.

Mittal’s remarks underline the regulatory hurdles facing satellite internet services in India, where approvals are crucial for companies seeking to expand connectivity beyond traditional mobile networks.

He said India was at an advanced stage of developing its space sector, with final security clearances awaited. Once these were in place, satellite services could help connect every part of the country.

Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb has also partnered with companies to launch satellite services in Africa, he said.

Data centres, cloud emerge as key India bets

Beyond telecom, Mittal said Bharti Airtel was expanding its presence in digital infrastructure, with data centres and sovereign cloud emerging as key areas of investment.

The company was scaling its data centre capacity from about 300 megawatts to 1 gigawatt, with facilities being developed in southern India, near Mumbai and around Delhi.

It was also working to build a sovereign cloud to serve Indian enterprises, government agencies and defence forces, reflecting growing concerns about data security and digital sovereignty.

Mittal said India’s stable policy environment and expanding network of trade agreements made it an attractive investment destination, despite recent pressure on the rupee from oil prices and supply-chain disruptions.

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He also identified financial services as a new growth area for Airtel in India, where it was beginning to offer consumer loans to customers.

The company already operated Airtel Money, a major financial services business across 14 African countries.

On artificial intelligence, Mittal called for global guardrails, warning that governments could not afford to wait for an accident before addressing risks. He said regulation should protect users without stifling innovation, arguing that the technology required international cooperation rather than fragmented national approaches.