India, Oct. 8 -- The Centre has rejected SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's allegation that unnamed oligarchs are blocking Starlink's launch in India, saying the country's regulatory framework for satellite communications is fair and non-discriminatory.

The communications ministry said all three licensed satcom operators are undergoing security assessments and are at broadly the same regulatory stage.

The three licensees are Starlink, Reliance's Jio Satellite Communications, and Bharti Enterprises-backed Eutelsat OneWeb.

"As such, the suggestion that the framework or its application is unfair or discriminatory is baseless and misconceived," the ministry said.

The response followed Musk's comments on X last night, when he alleged that Starlink was...