Billionaire Elon Musk said that Starlink satellite beams are not active over India after authorities there seized two of the company’s devices: one in a conflict zone and another during an alleged drug-smuggling bust.
Musk’s Starlink provides high-speed, low-latency internet access worldwide using a network of nearly 6,500 satellites.
One of the images posted appeared to show a satellite dish and receiver with a Starlink logo.
Earlier this month, Indian police issued a legal demand to Starlink, seeking details about the purchaser of a Starlink internet device found in a drug bust.
Indian police are hunting for alleged drug smugglers who they claim used a Starlink satellite internet device to navigate deep seas and bring methamphetamine worth $4.25 billion into Indian waters.
According to Starlink, the company has the world’s largest satellite constellation and provides connectivity on Earth’s oceans and waterways, including coverage in international waters.
In November, Indian Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia said that Starlink was in the process of obtaining security clearance.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani is competing with Musk over India’s future internet satellite services. Ambani, Asia’s richest man, has more than 479 million Indian telecom users via India’s biggest telecom company, Reliance Jio Infocomm.
Starlink was also involved in a legal dispute in Brazil, where it is estimated to have more than 200,000 users.
In September, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, the National Telecommunications Agency, threatened to suspend the company’s operating license if Musk did not comply with the country’s ban on social media platform X by blocking access to it.
The judge imposed daily fines of $8,900 for anyone caught bypassing the ban using virtual private networks, which allow people to access the internet as if they were located in a different country.
Starlink said its assets were frozen by authorities in Brazil. Musk refused to shut down X access as long as the freeze was in effect.
The European Space Agency and the European Commission signed a 10.6 billion euro (about $11 billion) contract with the SpaceRISE consortium of three European satellite operators.
The European Commission’s commissioner for defense and space, Andrius Kubilius, said the signing of the agreement “will be vital” for the EU’s security and defense.
“In times of crisis, we cannot afford to be too dependent on countries or companies from outside the European Union,” he said.
The Epoch Times was unable to reach Starlink for comment.
