{"id":2433,"date":"2026-10-10T11:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T06:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2433"},"modified":"2026-10-10T11:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T06:04:07","slug":"musk-mocks-ambani-as-prime-minister-in-starlink-feud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2433","title":{"rendered":"Musk mocks Ambani as \u2018Prime Minister\u2019 in Starlink feud"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US tech billionaire Elon Musk has escalated his public feud with India\u2019s leading industrialist Mukesh Ambani over delays in launching Starlink satellite internet services in India, sarcastically calling the Reliance Industries chairman \u201cPrime Minister Ambani\u201d and accusing him of seeking to protect a monopoly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a series of posts on X on Friday and Saturday, the SpaceX and Starlink chief questioned whether Ambani was the \u201creal boss of India\u201d and urged him to allow Starlink to compete in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease accept my humble apologies for not realising that you are the real boss of India,\u201d Musk wrote, accusing Ambani of \u201cmonopolistic exploitation\u201d and asking whether he would consider allowing Starlink to enter the market.<\/p>\n

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Musk also shared media reports about political donations by Reliance-linked companies and allegations that a Reliance-funded firm helped boost the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party\u2019s (BJP) social media campaigns.<\/p>\n

The reports were shared amid his criticism of the delays facing Starlink, while Reliance has not publicly responded to his allegations.<\/p>\n

The feud began earlier this week when Musk alleged that powerful business interests were blocking Starlink to preserve their dominance in India\u2019s telecom market.<\/p>\n

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He said the service had spent five years complying with Indian government requirements but was still awaiting permission to begin operations.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s government has rejected claims that its approval process is unfair or discriminatory.<\/p>\n

Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said Starlink, Reliance Jio\u2019s satellite venture Jio Satcom and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb had received satellite communications licences, but all must meet security requirements before launching services.<\/p>\n

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The government is also finalising satellite spectrum pricing.<\/p>\n

Musk has argued that Starlink could bring internet access to underserved parts of India, helping children access education and small businesses reach global markets.<\/p>\n

He has also said the service could save lives during natural disasters when other communication networks fail.<\/p>\n

The dispute pits Musk\u2019s satellite internet business against Ambani\u2019s Reliance Jio, one of India\u2019s dominant telecom operators.<\/p>\n

The two sides had previously signed a deal to sell Starlink equipment through Reliance stores, but their relationship has become more complicated as they now face off over access to the Indian market.<\/p>\n

Ambani and Musk have clashed over satellite spectrum policy before.<\/p>\n

According to reports, Ambani called for satellite spectrum to be auctioned in 2024, while Musk opposed the move. India eventually decided to allocate it administratively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US tech billionaire Elon Musk has escalated his public feud with India\u2019s leading industrialist Mukesh Ambani over delays in launching Starlink satellite internet services in India, sarcastically calling the Reliance Industries chairman \u201cPrime Minister Ambani\u201d and accusing him of seeking to protect a monopoly. In a series of posts on X on Friday and Saturday, the SpaceX and Starlink chief questioned whether Ambani was the \u201creal boss of India\u201d and urged him to allow Starlink to compete in the country. \u201cPlease accept my humble apologies for not realising that you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}