According to the Financial Times, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has reached a cooperation agreement with Indian telecom tycoon Sunil Mittal to introduce Starlink to India. On Tuesday, Musk's SpaceX and Mittal's Airtel announced a partnership. The partnership allows SpaceX to use Bharti Airtel's retail store network to distribute its Starlink equipment across India, but only if Starlink can obtain approval from the Indian government to operate in the country.
Airtel said on Tuesday the two sides would consider leveraging each other's network infrastructure to expand coverage, but did not provide specific details. Airtel will also explore offering Starlink services to its enterprise customers and other customers.
The two billionaires have joined forces to bring satellite Internet services to India, the world's most populous country. At the same time, this cooperation will also allow them to compete with the telecommunications giant Reliance Jio owned by another Indian tycoon and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani. Ambani and Mittal are sworn enemies and have worked together to persuade the Indian government to auction spectrum for space-based internet. But Musk's view is that spectrum should be allocated directly.
The deal with Mittal is Musk's latest attempt to enter the Indian market. His business has struggled to make headway in India, hampered by tariffs and regulatory issues. These issues have previously prevented Tesla from selling cars in India.
However, Neil Shah, co-founder of research firm Counterpoint Research, said that Ambani’s Reliance Jio is India’s largest telecom operator and has formed a near duopoly with Airtel, so it is unlikely to stop trying to prevent Starlink from entering India.
"Obviously, local companies don't want to be too impacted by external competition," he added. "In terms of competition, SpaceX is far ahead of other companies, and I think this is one of the reasons why Airtel is cooperating with them, so that they can seize the opportunity. This is the first step. We will see more actions from Musk next."
Musk's troubles in India appear to have eased since he became a key adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Musk in Washington last month, and the two sides discussed aerospace and technology issues.