Starlink was built to deliver internet from space to places that ground networks struggle to reach.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX developed the service and launched its first satellite fleet in 2019.
SpaceX’s 2025 progress report dates the first Starlink launch to 2019 and the start of commercial service to 2020. NASA recorded the deployment of 60 Starlink communications satellites in May 2019, followed by another 60 that November.
The network has since grown into a broadband business serving homes, businesses, ships and aircraft. But the expansion has not carried it past every national regulator, and India remains a market where the company has secured licenses without beginning commercial service.
What Starlink actually delivers
Unlike a fiber connection, Starlink sends data between a customer’s terminal and satellites overhead. Its technology page describes a constellation of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit, roughly 550 kilometers above the planet.
That is much closer than traditional geostationary satellites, which orbit at about 35,786 kilometers. The shorter distance reduces the time a signal takes to travel, making satellite broadband more useful for video calls, streaming and online games.
SpaceX builds and operates the satellites in Redmond, Washington, and manufactures customer kits in Bastrop, Texas. It also launches its own satellites, giving the company control over both the network in orbit and the rockets that expand it.
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Starlink’s current service-plan page advertises coverage in more than 150 countries and territories. That is not a count of 150 sovereign countries, and it does not mean every location is open to every service plan.
In its 2025 report, the company said it was connecting more than 9 million customers across all seven continents and had expanded to 35 additional countries, territories and other markets during that year. Those are company-reported figures for 2025, not a fresh October subscriber count.
The business also includes Direct to Cell, which connects ordinary mobile phones through partner carriers. That is a separate offering from the dish-based broadband service and depends on local approvals and operator agreements.
A satellite overhead is not a license
Starlink’s reach does not remove the need for permission on the ground. Its support documentation includes a “DISABLED BLOCKED COUNTRY” alert for terminals operating where service is restricted or unavailable.
Namibia offers one example of an outright licensing setback. In a March 2026 updateStarlink said the country’s communications regulator had declined its application. The company disputed the noncompliance finding and said local ownership requirements were the main issue.
India’s position is different. The government has granted Starlink permissions, even though the service has not launched.
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A government account of the licensing process says Starlink received its telecom license on June 6, 2025, and space-regulator approval for its first-generation constellation capacity on July 8, 2025. A January 2026 parliamentary reply lists Starlink, OneWeb India and Jio Satellite as licensed operators.
The same government reply describes satellite services as a way to reach remote, coastal, border and mountainous areas that are difficult to cover with fiber or microwave links. The disagreement is over the conditions for starting service, not whether satellites can reach India.
Musk points to unnamed oligarchs
Musk escalated that dispute in an October 7 post on Xresponding to a DogeDesigner post calling for Starlink’s remaining clearances and spectrum allocation.
“Unfortunately, we are being blocked by certain oligarchs in order to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people,” Musk wrote. “You can guess who they are … This is a crime against the people of India!”
He did not name the people he was accusing or provide evidence in the post establishing that they were responsible for the delay. His statement is an allegation, not a finding that India’s regulatory process has been captured.
DogeDesigner’s post cited SpaceX executive Lauren Dreyer’s India Mobile Congress remarks, saying Starlink had built 20 Indian gateway sites and developed controls to keep Indian user data in the country. Its argument was that the network could connect remote classrooms, clinics and businesses while providing backup communications after disasters.
There is also a business relationship behind the competitive dispute. The government’s licensing summary says both Airtel and Reliance Jio partnered with Starlink in March 2025 to expand satellite internet access. Musk’s unnamed allegation does not establish that either partner caused the outstanding delays.
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This story was originally published by TheStreet on Oct 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the Technology News section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: finance.yahoo.com
