Elon Musk has pledged to price his Starlink satellite internet service affordably in India, escalating his public feud with billionaire rival Mukesh Ambani days before the planned launch of the country's largest-ever initial public offering (IPO).
Jio Platforms, the parent company of telecom operator Reliance Jio, is targeting a valuation of $106 billion in the offering. Both Starlink and Jio's own satellite venture are currently awaiting final security clearance to launch in India.
"Obviously, if Starlink is too expensive in India, no one will buy it, so SpaceX will need to make pricing affordable," Musk wrote on his social media platform X on Saturday.
"The reality is that competition would greatly benefit the average citizen in India by giving them more choices, as it always does. Ambani's profits will be lower, but he is not going out of business," he added.
Musk did not specify prices. Mobile data in India costs approximately 7.74 rupees ($0.08) per gigabyte, among the lowest rates in the world.
Cheap data is the strategy that built Jio into a market leader in India, and one Musk has deployed in markets such as Kenya to challenge local telecom operators. SpaceX is also planning to enter the mobile carrier market directly, starting in the United States.
Musk's latest remarks are part of a series of posts in which he has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and Ambani of stalling Starlink's entry into one of the world's largest internet markets in order to favour Jio.
Late on Friday, Musk addressed Ambani directly, referring to him as "Prime Minister Ambani" and asking whether he would "consider allowing Starlink to compete."
The posts represent a sharp shift for Musk, who has long maintained a warm public relationship with Modi.
India's government has denied any bias in its approval process, stating that all three satellite ventures seeking to launch in the country, including those of Starlink and Jio, are awaiting the same final security clearance.
Reliance has not responded to Musk's remarks.
