Musk Says Starlink Must Be Affordable in India, Escalating Feud With Ambani Days Before Jio IPO

Elon Musk stepped up his push into India on Saturday, writing on X that "if Starlink is too expensive in India, no one will buy it, so SpaceX will need to make pricing affordable". He also said competition would benefit the average citizen in India by giving them more choices, and that "Ambani's profits will be lower, but he is not going out of business". The comments come days before Reliance Industries' digital arm, Jio Platforms, goes public in what Reuters describes as India's largest-ever IPO, targeting a valuation of $106 billion.

The exchange has turned personal. Musk accused Ambani's online supporters of "absurd hypocrisy," according to a PTI report, and late Friday addressed him as "Prime Minister Ambani," Reuters reported. The feud began earlier in the week when Musk suggested the government was obstructing Starlink. India's Ministry of Communications called those claims "baseless and misconceived" on Oct. 8, and government officials told CNBC-TV18 that Musk's claim that approvals were being held up was "blatantly false".

Starlink is not yet commercially available in India. The government says all three satellite broadband ventures seeking to launch, including Jio's own, are awaiting final security clearance, and Musk has not disclosed any Indian pricing. Mobile data in India costs about 8 cents per gigabyte, among the lowest rates in the world, which sets a low bar for any satellite service competing on price.

For SpaceX, India is a large prize, but entry still hinges on security clearance and spectrum assignment rather than rhetoric. For Jio, the timing puts a competitive question in front of IPO investors as bidding approaches. Watch for a clearance decision on Starlink and the final terms of the Jio offering.