Starlink in India: licensed but still waiting for spectrum, while Tesla's Model Y slowly gains ground

Two of Elon Musk's companies have been trying to break into India for years. One has made it: Tesla has been delivering cars there since September 2025. The other is still waiting. Starlink has its licences, but it cannot switch on its service until the government allocates spectrum and completes security checks. A decision in early September brought that moment closer.

What happened in September

On September 3, 2026, India's Digital Communications Commission, the top decision-making body of the Department of Telecommunications, approved most of the regulator TRAI's recommendations on satellite spectrum. According to Indian media reports:

• Spectrum fee: satellite operators will pay 5% of their adjusted gross revenue, with an effective rate of 4% for services in rural and remote areas. Starlink and Amazon's Kuiper had lobbied for less than 1%.
• No urban surcharge: the government dropped TRAI's proposed extra charge of 500 rupees per urban subscriber per year.
• No terminal subsidy: a plan to subsidise satellite dishes in remote villages was also rejected.
• Next steps: the pricing still needs Cabinet approval, after which spectrum can be allocated. Operators also have to pass security demonstrations demanded by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio's satellite arm all have permission to offer services, but none can start before those steps are done. Starlink has also re-applied to India's space regulator, IN-SPACe, for approval of its second-generation constellation. No launch date has been announced.

What Starlink might cost

Starlink has not published official Indian prices. Earlier reports suggested a one-time hardware cost of around 30,000 to 35,000 rupees and monthly plans of roughly 3,000 to 4,200 rupees, but these numbers are unconfirmed. Capacity is another limit: one constellation can only serve a limited number of users in a dense city, so Starlink is expected to matter most in rural and remote areas, not as a rival to fibre in Delhi or Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Tesla is growing slowly

Tesla's Indian business is small but picking up. The company only sells the Model Y, imported rather than built locally, after dropping plans for an Indian factory. After a price cut of 9 lakh rupees to 50.89 lakh rupees before taxes and fees, Tesla sold a record 115 cars in July 2026. Cumulative sales passed 600 by mid-August. Tesla now has showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, has started delivering the six-seat Model Y L, and plans more Superchargers.

Why the two stories belong together

Both companies face the same basic challenge in India: a market with huge potential, a government that wants local investment and control, and rules that make a fast entry difficult. For Tesla, the hurdle was import duties and the question of a local factory. For Starlink, it is spectrum pricing, security clearance and foreign ownership. How New Delhi treats one Musk company is closely watched as a signal for the other.

There is also a practical link. Tesla has already shown a Cybercab with Starlink built into its roof, and Musk said the reason is reliability: robotaxis must not get stranded in places without mobile coverage. In a country where mobile coverage on highways and in rural areas can be patchy, satellite connectivity would be useful for connected cars. That remains a long way off, but it cannot happen in India at all until Starlink is allowed to operate.

What to watch

Cabinet approval of the spectrum pricing, the actual allocation of spectrum, Starlink's first official Indian price list, and whether Tesla keeps its sales momentum after the July record.