has responded to Elon Musk’s public attack on Mukesh Ambani over the delay in Starlink’s entry into India, maintaining that its own satellite services are also awaiting government clearances and asserting that it has never feared competition.
In a statement posted on social media platform X on Friday, Reliance said it wanted to “place the facts on record” amid recent remarks about the company and the Indian market.
“Like every Indian enterprise, Reliance has grown in an India that welcomes investment and innovation, homegrown or international, that improve the lives of the people,” the company said.
Statement from Reliance Industries
In light of recent remarks about Reliance and the Indian market, we wish to place the facts on record.
Like every Indian enterprise, Reliance has grown in an India that welcomes investment and innovation, homegrown or international, that improve the lives of the people.
That openness rests on the rule of law. As the Government of India has stated, it applies the same process to every applicant, Indian or foreign. Jio’s own satellite services await clearances.
At Reliance, we have never feared competition. We see it as the truest test of who serves the customer best. Jio itself entered India’s crowded telecom market in 2016 as the newest player, with not a single customer. In just ten years, Jio has earned the trust of over 530 million customers and given Indians some of the best digital infrastructure and most affordable data in the world.
We welcome competition in satellite communications, including Starlink. Every player, Jio included, must serve the people of India and abide by the laws and policies of the land.
— Reliance Industries Limited (@RIL_Updates)
It added that openness to investment must be underpinned by adherence to the law, pointing out that the government had said the same process applied to domestic and foreign applicants.
“As the Government of India has stated, it applies the same process to every applicant, Indian or foreign. Jio’s own satellite services await clearances,” Reliance said.
The company also rejected the suggestion that it was apprehensive about Starlink entering the Indian market, arguing that competition was central to its own growth.
“At Reliance, we have never feared competition. We see it as the truest test of who serves the customer best,” it said.
Citing Jio’s entry into the telecom market in 2016, Reliance said the company had started out as the newest player in a crowded market “with not a single customer”.
“In just ten years, Jio has earned the trust of over 530 million customers and given Indians some of the best digital infrastructure and most affordable data in the world,” it said.
Reiterating its position on Starlink’s proposed entry, Reliance said: “We welcome competition in satellite communications, including Starlink. Every player, Jio included, must serve the people of India and abide by the laws and policies of the land.”
The statement is Reliance’s first public response to Musk’s repeated criticism of the regulatory hurdles facing Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by his aerospace company SpaceX.
Musk has accused powerful business interests of trying to prevent Starlink from entering India to protect existing operators. In a post on X, Musk had earlier taken a direct swipe at Ambani, sarcastically addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Prime Minister Ambani” and questioning whether the Reliance chairman was the “real boss of India”. He alleged that the delay in Starlink’s launch was protecting a monopolistic market structure.
The government has rejected allegations of discrimination, saying the regulatory framework for satellite communications is fair and non-discriminatory. It has maintained that security assessments of the applicants are under way and that operators must meet the prescribed conditions before beginning commercial services.