Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Airtel, said on Wednesday that the group was ahead in line of Elon Musk’s Starlink in receiving final clearances for launching satellite communications services in the country. His comments come as Musk has upped the ante over the delay in receiving security clearance for his service.“We are all awaiting our approvals. I think I am significantly ahead of him in the queue. I applied five years back. I have had my patent ready for the last three years. My settlers have been hovering over India for the last five years. We don’t have the permission, so we’d be very happy to get it at least a few days before him (Elon Musk),” Mittal said during a panel discussion at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026.Starlink is among the operators that have secured GMPCS (global mobile personal communication by satellite) licences and other statutory approvals needed to launch satellite communication, or satcom, services in the country. Others who have received it include Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, and Jio Satellite Communications Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms. Jeff Bezos-owned Amazon Leo is also in contention for a licence.Musk blames ‘certain oligarchs’Last week, Musk took to social media, blaming “certain oligarchs” for blocking Starlink in the country, and calling it a “crime against the people of India”. The Centre has said satcom applications were pending security clearance at the Home Ministry, saying the country’s regulatory framework for satcom services is fair and non-discriminatory.In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Communications said, “The government has put in place a fair and non-discriminatory authorisation framework for all telecommunication services, including satellite communication services… Under the terms and conditions of licence, every such licensee is required to demonstrate compliance with security conditions… aimed at ensuring that services provided meet various security requirements to ensure safety of all users and their data,” the ministry said without explicitly naming Musk.“Security assessment as part of this process is currently underway in respect of all the three licensees. As and when this process is completed for a licenced entity, it may proceed to the next step of seeking assignment of spectrum. At present, all the three entities are at broadly the same regulatory stage. As such, the suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived,” it added.Last July, Starlink had received what industry executives said was the last regulatory approval needed to launch the service in India from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) granted authorisation to the satcom company for its satellite constellation. Before that, the company had received an operator licence from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), three years after first applying for one.Regulatory delay, security concernsStory continues below this adDespite the regulatory clearance, it is understood the government is yet to green-light formal launch of these services over security concerns. The concern stems from anxieties around foreign satcom operators potentially bypassing Indian gateways to offer their services, an event when the government might lose control over the service.The delay in Starlink’s final security clearance comes as Reliance Jio is building a sovereign low earth satellite constellation in India, and is considering a 1,600–1,650 satellite network costing an estimated $10–15 billion.Mittal also said that while he did not wish to stifle innovation in artificial intelligence (AI), he wants to see the technology develop with guardrails in place. “Are we going to wake up only when an accident happens or we do it before,” Mittal said, but added that it would be “foolish” to let the technology develop with no safeguards.’