Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, India’s two biggest telecom service providers, have taken a U-turn on their opposition to Elon Musk’s SpaceX and have formalized an agreement to offer Starlink’s broadband services to their customers in India.

What’s fascinating about this decision is the history of strong disapproval expressed by Mukesh Ambani’s Jio and Sunil Mittal’s Airtel during the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2024. “They need to buy the spectrum as telecom companies do, pay the license fees as telecom companies do, and also secure the networks of telecom companies,” Mittal said at the conference. Earlier, Jio had also shared similar views, emphasizing that satellite firms should be subjected to the same laws, regulations, and requirements as telecom companies.

The partnership between Jio and SpaceX allows both companies to leverage each other's strengths—Jio can utilize Starlink’s position as the world's leading low Earth orbit satellite constellation operator to deliver reliable broadband services across India, while Musk benefits from Jio’s extensive customer base.

Bharti Airtel’s MD and Vice Chairman, Gopal Vittal, called the partnership with SpaceX a milestone, highlighting Airtel’s commitment to next-generation satellite connectivity. “The agreement will enable Airtel and SpaceX to further explore how Starlink can complement and expand Airtel's offerings and how Airtel's expertise in the Indian market could enhance SpaceX's direct offerings to consumers and businesses,” Airtel said in a statement on Tuesday.

Both announcements come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Elon Musk, the owner of Starlink operator SpaceX, during his last visit to the U.S.