The Ministry of Communications issued a statement on Thursday, following SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s remarks against Indian ‘oligarchs’ for blocking Starlink communication services in the country. The government said it has put in place a “fair and non-discriminatory authorisation framework” for all telecommunication services, including satellite communication services.
“The suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived,” the ministry said without explicitly referring to a day earlier.
On Wednesday, a social media post by went viral. The SpaceX and Tesla boss had shared ‘DogeDesigner’s’ post, which gave pointers on why India needs Starlink.
Musk reshared the X post, saying, “Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people. You can guess who they are. This is a crime against the people of India!”
The Ministry of Communications did not name Musk in its statement on Thursday, but acknowledged the post, which was “being circulated on social media, regarding the fairness of India’s regulatory framework for satellite communication services and suggesting that it is being applied in a discriminatory manner.”
Rubbishing Musk’s claim, the minister said, “…the suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived.”
