New Delhi: Tech billionaire Elon Musk has rejected claims that his satellite internet service Starlink is being used by insurgent groups in Northeast India to bypass government-imposed internet shutdowns. Musk clarified that Starlink beams are switched off over India and therefore no device can connect inside Indian territory, even if hardware is found on the ground.
The controversy has resurfaced at a time when Starlink is awaiting final security clearances to begin commercial operations in India. The company, a subsidiary of SpaceX, provides high-speed broadband through a constellation of low-earth orbit satellites and is already operational in over 100 countries, including Myanmar which shares a porous border with Manipur.
The latest trigger was a 2024 incident in which security forces in Manipur seized a Starlink dish and router along with arms and ammunition during anti-insurgency operations. The recovery was highlighted again this week by news portal The Modern Himachal after Musk accused “certain oligarchs” of blocking Starlink’s entry into India to protect their monopolistic interests in the telecom sector.
Responding to the portal’s post on X, which said that unlicensed satellite links can serve armed groups in sensitive border areas and that clearances involve more than commercial rivalry, an X handle DogeDesigner challenged the narrative. The handle, known for its frequent engagement with Musk and links to dogecoin projects, said that with satellite beams disabled over India, no terminal can go online.
Musk endorsed that clarification. “Starlink beams are turned off over India, so the claim that they were used by anyone for any reason is absolutely false,” the SpaceX CEO tweeted on Thursday. He had issued a similar denial in December 2024 when the first seizure of Starlink-labelled devices was reported from Manipur during the height of ethnic violence in the state.
However, finding a Starlink terminal in India does not necessarily prove that it is unusable. Police in Manipur had earlier stated that the devices seized in 2024 were likely smuggled from Myanmar, where Starlink services are active and widely available on the black market. Security agencies fear that proximity to the international border could allow spillover connectivity.
Sources quoted by The Guardian last year claimed that the service did work in pockets along the India-Myanmar border despite Musk’s assertion. A member of the banned People’s Liberation Army of Manipur (PLA) had told the British newspaper that his group used Starlink to access the internet inside Manipur during government-ordered shutdowns, after discovering that a terminal bought for use in Myanmar continued to function across the border.
A separate incident in 2024 added to security concerns. The Indian Coast Guard recovered a Starlink device from a boat intercepted near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands while it was being used for drug smuggling. Officials said the terminal was likely being used for navigation and communication in Indian waters, raising questions about the potential misuse of unauthorised satellite communication in maritime zones.
These incidents have become a central point of contention in the regulatory process for Starlink’s India entry. A report by Bloomberg said that agencies under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs were holding back final clearances due to national security concerns over the potential misuse of satellite internet by insurgents, smugglers and hostile elements in border states like Manipur.
The delay prompted a sharp reaction from Musk. On Thursday, responding to a post that said Starlink was needed in India because lakhs of villages still lack broadband connectivity, Musk alleged a “monopolistic chokehold” by domestic telecom giants. “Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people. You can guess who they are. This is a crime against the people of India,” he wrote without naming anyone.
The government, however, dismissed Musk’s remarks as baseless. Officials asserted that India’s framework for satellite communication services is fair, transparent and non-discriminatory, and that all applicants, including Starlink, are subject to the same security and technical requirements. Presently, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel dominate the Indian telecom market.
In 2025, the Department of Telecommunications granted satellite communication licences to three players – Starlink, Jio Satellite Communications and Eutelsat OneWeb. Despite securing licences, none of them have started full commercial services as they await additional approvals related to spectrum allocation, security architecture and data localisation.
Addressing security concerns at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) this week, SpaceX executive Lauren Dreyer said Starlink has developed India-specific controls. She said the company has built its operations specifically for India keeping in mind regulatory and security requirements, and will ensure that Indian user data remains within the country, with monitoring and interception capabilities as required by law.
