Amid Starlink row, Akash Ambani says Jio is making ‘rapid progress’ on indigenous satellite broadband

Elon Musk’s Starlink is under fire as it awaits a government green signal to commence operations in India. The debate between Musk and the government has triggered a political and industry row overnight. Amid the chaos, Reliance Jio chairman Akash Ambani, at the sidelines of India Mobile Congress 2026, told Business Today that Jio is making “rapid progress” on its plans to build an indigenous satellite broadband technology stack for India.

Asked about Musk's comments and when Jio would launch its first satellite fleet for the Satcom service, Ambani said the company's focus lay elsewhere. "We want to be heads down and deliver value to our Indian consumers," he said.

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"Not in the future, that is today"

Ambani further stated that Jio’s Satcom plans are an extension of Jio's broadband push, and not a standalone service. He called home broadband one of the technology's biggest use cases and said Jio already has a solution for every Indian home. "That's not in the future, that is today," he said.

He further revealed that the company is developing an end-to-end indigenous stack for its satellite communications ambitions. However, he did not provide a specific timeline for the launch of Jio’s first fleet of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

“We're making good progress. I think we're building an end-to-end indigenous stack,” Ambani said. Satellite, he said, would help Jio “really extend those boundaries very, very quickly.” He further added that the technology has to be “on par with or leading the world.”

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“So I don't want to give an exact answer of when we will launch, but what we're promising is that every Indian home will have a broadband connection that they can connect to,” Ambani said.

Elon Musk’s backlash on Starlink India launch

After Lauren Dreyer, Vice President, Starlink Business Operations, SpaceX, addressed at IMC on October 7, speaking about Starlink’s India plans. Elon Musk shared a post saying that its services are being blocked by “certain oligarchs” to preserve a monopolistic hold. However, he did not name anyone or offer evidence.

However, it is expected that Musk was referring to Ambani or Bharti's Sunil Mittal, since both Airtel and Jio announced Starlink distribution deals last year. Furthermore, the Ministry of Communications issued a statement highlighting that all three licensed satellite operators are currently under security assessment and are at the same regulatory stage. The three operators holding satellite communication licences are expected to be Starlink, Jio Satellite Communications, and Eutelsat OneWeb.