Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, publicly asserted that Eutelsat OneWeb deserves regulatory clearance in India ahead of Starlink, pointing to the company's five-year head start in the approval queue. Mittal made the remarks at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026 in New Delhi, wading into an intensifying national debate over satellite broadband licensing in India.

What Mittal Said

'As I have already said, we are awaiting our approvals. I believe we are significantly ahead of him in the queue because we applied five years ago,' Mittal said during a panel discussion at the forum. He argued that Eutelsat OneWeb's lengthy wait makes its case for priority treatment self-evident.

Mittal added: 'Our ground networks have been ready for the past three years, and our satellites have been hovering over India for the past five years. We still do not have the necessary permission, so we would be very happy to receive it, even a few days before him.'

OneWeb's Ground-Level Readiness

According to Mittal, Eutelsat OneWeb's infrastructure preparedness sets it apart from newer entrants. The company's ground network has reportedly been operational and ready for three years, while its satellites have been positioned over Indian skies for approximately five years — a timeline that predates Elon Musk-led Starlink's formal push into the Indian market by a considerable margin.

Notably, this level of on-ground readiness without corresponding approvals raises questions about regulatory velocity — and whether India's satellite communication licensing framework has kept pace with the sector's commercial momentum.

The Starlink Row and Musk's Allegations

Mittal's remarks come amid a sharp escalation in public discourse around Starlink's India entry. Over the past week, Elon Musk used social media platform X to allege that certain Indian businesses were actively obstructing Starlink's plans to launch satellite broadband services in the country — a claim that drew widespread attention and political reaction.

This is not the first time the satellite broadband licensing debate has flared in India. The sector has witnessed recurring friction between incumbent telecom interests and new-age satellite operators, with spectrum allocation and the administrative approval process repeatedly emerging as flashpoints.

Government's Response

The Ministry of Communications has firmly rejected allegations of preferential treatment or discrimination in the approval process. In a formal statement responding to Musk's claims, the ministry said all satellite communication operators are being evaluated through a fair and non-discriminatory framework.

'At present, all the three entities are at broadly the same regulatory stage. As such, the suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived,' the ministry stated.

The government's pushback effectively contests both Musk's allegation of bias and, implicitly, Mittal's claim of queue priority — setting the stage for a potentially prolonged regulatory and public-relations standoff among the three operators vying for India's satellite broadband market.

What Comes Next

With the government insisting all three operators stand at roughly the same regulatory stage, the timeline for final approvals remains unclear. India's satellite broadband market — estimated to serve millions of underserved users across rural and semi-urban geographies — is widely seen as one of the most consequential licensing decisions of the year. How the Centre navigates competing commercial and geopolitical pressures will shape the sector's trajectory for years to come.