India’s telecom tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal have struck separate deals within hours to bring Elon Musk’s Starlink to the world’s most populous nation, deepening alliances between New Delhi, Washington and the politically connected businessmen.
On Wednesday Ambani’s Reliance Jio, India’s biggest mobile operator, followed Mittal’s Bharti Airtel, the number-two player, in going public with plans to collaborate and distribute SpaceX’s satellite internet service. The tie-ups could further smooth the entry of Musk’s wider business interests, including Tesla, into India.
Neil Shah, co-founder at technology consultancy Counterpoint Research, called the agreements “a win-win for everyone”, with Starlink’s market-leading service avoiding a damaging clash with the “Indian behemoths”.
The unprecedented partnership between Musk and two of India’s most powerful billionaires — fierce rivals who wield near total control over the country’s huge telecommunications market — was seen as another indication of New Delhi’s willingness to work with Donald Trump’s administration, ease barriers to investment and douse the US president’s reciprocal tariff threats.
“This is India’s way of telling the US: ‘Let’s work together’,” said Vivekanand Subbaraman, analyst at Ambit Capital in Mumbai. “It was very clear that Mr Musk has a lot of clout in the American government and he is leveraging that.”
The announcements in quick succession surprised industry watchers in part due to the unexpected détente between the trio after Ambani and Mittal publicly lobbied Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to auction satellite airwaves as they had with previous spectrum sales, rather than just allocate them as Musk had wished.
People close to the Indian groups had previously told the Financial Times they were worried about allowing Musk to establish a toehold in their backyard. But in a sign of warming relations, Mathew Oommen, group chief executive at Reliance Jio, called the collaboration with SpaceX “a transformative step towards seamless broadband connectivity for all”.
The partnerships come on the heels of Modi’s meeting with Trump in Washington last month, where he also held talks with Musk on technology, space and innovation.
“These deals take their sweet time,” said one Mumbai banker, who did not wish to be named. “It’s very uncanny that both these got unstuck at the same time.”
India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Commercial imperatives may have also spurred Musk to draw closer to India’s dominant telecoms players, as regulatory approvals for Starlink lagged behind those for the local counterparts’ planned satellite services.
Many foreign companies, including General Motors, Ford and Vodafone, have floundered in India, finding themselves squeezed by deep-rooted domestic competitors, as well as shifting regulatory hurdles.
“Elon Musk could have built his own distribution and offices, but that’s a hard thing to do and expensive,” said Ambit Capital’s Subbaraman. “If you look at these partnerships, Elon Musk will be able to get visibility from day one. You need distribution muscle to reach consumers.”
After heralding the deal with Bharti Airtel a day earlier, Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said on Wednesday that the US company was “looking forward to working with Jio and receiving authorisation from the Government of India”.
The joint ventures may also help smooth any security concerns in New Delhi over allowing Starlink to operate in India’s sensitive border areas that it shares with China and Pakistan.
Analysts believe satellite internet would mostly find a market in India’s remote regions, given the extensive availability of cheap 5G services already rolled out across the country of 1.4bn people. Despite the fanfare around the alliance between the billionaire trio, industry experts played down the commercial promise of space-fed internet in India.
While the country has more than 1bn active mobile users, Axis Capital analysts flagged its comparatively low level of fixed broadband subscriptions of 41mn. Starlink’s premium pricing in a country with per capita GDP of less than $3,000 means it is “unlikely to become mainstream in India”.
A person close to Reliance said the details over Starlink’s pricing and rollout would “take some time” to work out.
Starlink’s entry could also clear the way for other Musk businesses to branch out in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Tesla recently advertised for multiple India-based roles, suggesting it was preparing to sell its electric vehicles in the south Asian country, even though Trump last month disparaged the possibility of Musk setting up a car factory in India, saying it would be “unfair to us”.
Musk last year snubbed Modi by abruptly cancelling a trip to India in favour of signing a deal in China. Still, the billionaire — who has complained about the nation’s high tariff barriers — remains committed to building a Tesla plant in India in the long term, the FT has reported.
“That’s definitely one of the agenda items of India’s government,” the Mumbai-based banker said about attracting marquee investors.
“At the same time, India has strength in the auto sector,” they added. “I don’t think they will beg Musk to come, his vehicles are very premium and will command a small market catchment.”
Additional reporting by Krishn Kaushik in Bengaluru
