Amid the controversy surrounding Elon Musk-owned Starlink’s India entry, Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Wednesday said his satellite communications venture, Eutelsat OneWeb, had applied for a licence in India five years ago. According to Mittal, Eutelsat OneWeb was well ahead of Elon Musk‘s Starlink in the queue.The statement comes after Musk recently claimed on X that certain oligarchs were preventing Starlink from entering the Indian market because they wanted to retain a “monopolistic chokehold” on Indians. Musk posted another question on X, asking whether Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani was “the real boss of India.”The Ministry of Communications has rejected the allegation that India’s regulatory framework or its implementation was unfair or discriminatory and described such suggestions as “baseless and misconceived”.
‘Will be happy to get nod at least few days before him’
Mittal said that he would be pleased if his company received approval even a few days before the US tech billionaire’s venture.Addressing the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026, Mittal said: “I think I am significantly ahead in the queue from him. I applied five years back.” His remarks came in response to a question about Musk’s recent criticism of India’s telecom billionaires amid the ongoing debate over satellite internet services in the country.Mittal said the company’s ground network had been ready for three years, while its satellites had been hovering over India for five years.Despite this, Eutelsat OneWeb is still awaiting permission to launch its services in the country. “We don’t have the permission, so we’ll be very happy to get it at least a few days before him,” Mittal said.Last week, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had reiterated that monopolies were not permitted in any sector in India.“Let me set the record straight. For us, the Department of Telecommunications, we are technology agnostic… Our job is to be able to provide the bouquet of services to every single customer. It is for the customer to choose in a free market which service he or she prefers, and within that service bouquet, which company’s service he or she prefers,” the minister had said during a briefing at the recent India Mobile Congress.Scindia said three companies had already obtained satellite communications licences: Musk’s Starlink, Reliance Jio’s satellite venture Jio Satcom and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb. Amazon’s Project Kuiper has also expressed interest in the Indian market but will have to follow the prescribed procedure.The minister noted that while much of the discussion had focused on one particular company, three entities had already secured satcom licences.“We are very clear on our stand. There are three parties that have got a licence; as and when the government decides the charge system on the revenue basis, that spectrum will be assigned to them, and as and when they individually fulfil the security conditions, they can start operations,” the minister had said.Scindia also informed that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Telecommunications were nearing a final decision on the pricing framework for satellite communication spectrum.