Elon Musk’s Starlink Inc. has logged a win in the fight for India’s satellite broadband market with a government minister saying the spectrum will be allocated, and not auctioned as sought by homegrown billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio has been vocal about the need to allocate such spectrum through an auction to give a level playing field to legacy operators.

India's government on Tuesday said it will allot spectrum for satellite broadband administratively and not via auction, hours after Elon Musk criticized the auction route being sought by rival billionaire Mukesh Ambani as "unprecedented".

India is set to allocate spectrum for satellite services through administrative means rather than auction, a decision that aligns with recent comments by Elon Musk and rebuffs lobbying efforts by the country's largest telecom operators.

Elon Musk, through his satellite company Starlink, has expressed a commitment to serving India. His remarks follow Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s announcement that India will allocate spectrum for satellite services administratively,

Starlink boss Elon Musk said a move by India to auction satellite broadband spectrum, and not allocate it, would be "unprecedented", reacting to a Reuters story that rival billionaire Mukesh Ambani was lobbying for the auction route.

The Government has opted to allocate satellite communication (satcom) spectrum through administrative measures, bypassing the auction route favoured by billionaires Reliance Industries Director Mukesh Ambani and Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal,

Billionaire Elon Musk said he appreciated India’s decision to allocate spectrum for satellite broadband administratively instead of auctioning it. What Happened: Replying to a post on X, Musk said he will do his best to “serve the people of India with Starlink“.