Starlink's shadow: How Elon Musk’s Starlink united arch-rivals Airtel and Jio

Each year at the India Mobile Congress (IMC), the country’s largest annual mobile industry event, India’s telecom magnates—Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Jio), Sunil Bharti Mittal (Bharti Airtel), and Kumar Mangalam Birla (Vi)—are the major draws. The trio follow a well-choreographed routine. They begin by expounding on the investments and progress of their respective telcos and end by revealing what they’d most like from the government.

Typically, the three tycoons tend to have very different wishlists. This year’s event, however, bucked that trend.

On 15 October, Mittal, chairman of India’s number-two telecom operator Bharti Airtel, did something unusual. He went to bat for regulations which would compel satellite communication companies such as Elon Musk’s Starlink and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon Kuiper to pay a higher fee if they chose to sell their services to “urban, elite” Indians. This is something that rival Jio has strongly advocated for, insisting that satellite companies participate in auctions to obtain spectrum.