Partnerships orchestrated by PM to buy goodwill with Trump: Congress on Airtel, Jio deals with Starlink

With both Airtel and Jio announcing partnerships with Starlink, the Congress on Thursday alleged that these have been orchestrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi "to buy goodwill" with US President Donald Trump through Starlink's owner Elon Musk. The opposition party also said many questions remain and the most important one relates to national security.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that within literally 12 hours both Airtel and Jio have announced partnerships with Starlink, seemingly overcoming all their objections to its entry into India - which they have been voicing for quite some time.

"It is abundantly clear that these partnerships have been orchestrated by none other than the PM himself to buy goodwill with President Trump through Starlink's owner Mr. Elon Musk," Ramesh alleged.


"But many questions remain. Perhaps the most important one relates to national security. Who will have the power to switch connectivity on or off when national security demands it? Will it be Starlink or its Indian partners? Will other satellite-based connectivity providers also be permitted and on what basis?" the Congress leader said on X.

And, of course, the much larger question of Tesla manufacturing in India remains, he added.

Is there some commitment to it now that Starlink's entry into India has been facilitated, Ramesh asked.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms struck a deal with SpaceX, the aerospace company led by Musk, to bring Starlink's broadband internet services to India, a surprise move that follows months of bickering over how Musk's venture should be granted spectrum rights.

The deal with Musk - considered the right-hand-man of US President Trump - came after telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel signed a similar partnership deal with SpaceX.

Over the past few months, rivals Jio and Airtel had come together to demand an auction for awarding spectrum for satellite services in India as they feared an administrative allocation would give Musk airwaves at a price lower than what they had paid via auctions in the past.

Starlink is the world's largest low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellation operated by SpaceX.

On Tuesday, Bharti Airtel announced that it is entering into an agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink's high-speed Internet service to India on a non-exclusive basis. Bharti already partners with Eutelsat OneWeb, the second-largest LEO constellation.