- Sunil Bharti Mittal claims to be ahead of Elon Musk for satellite broadband approval in India
- His satellite infrastructure has been ready for years but lacks government permission
- Bharti plans to expand data centers to 1 gigawatt and develop a sovereign cloud in India
Sunil Bharti Mittal on Wednesday said he is “significantly ahead in the queue” of Elon Musk for permission to offer satellite broadband in India. He noted that his application has been pending while his infrastructure sits ready.
“I've already said that we are all awaiting our approvals,” Mittal said at a panel at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, responding to a moderator's question about Musk. “I applied five years back. I have my ground networks ready for the last three years. My satellites have been hovering over India for the last five years. We don't have the permission.”
“We'll be very happy to get it at least a few days before him,” he added.
Earlier in the discussion, Mittal described space as “a work in progress in India.” He said the country is at a very advanced stage, with some final security clearances still awaited. “Once that happens, we'll be able to connect every square inch of the country,” he said.
Mittal said spectrum policy and pricing are fundamental to the success of any digital business. He credited India with putting out good policies over the past decade, including regular spectrum auctions that let operators plan ahead. He argued that if digital is a multiplier for the economy, taxes on digital goods, digital services and telecom should be as low as possible.
Data Centres And Sovereign Cloud
In India, Mittal said, the group's main focus is turning to data centres. It plans to scale capacity from about 300 megawatts to a gigawatt “within the shortest possible time frame,” with facilities coming up in South India, near Mumbai and around Delhi. Sovereign cloud is the next priority, he said.
The company is working to set up its own sovereign cloud to serve Indian enterprises, government and the defence forces, as countries grow concerned about keeping their data protected within their borders.
AI Guardrails
Mittal said AI is moving so fast that governments are struggling to keep up with regulation. He noted that the founders of the technology themselves have voiced fears that AI agents could go rogue. “Are we going to wake up only when an accident happens, or we do it before?” he asked. He said regulation should not stifle growth, but it would be “foolish” to wait for an accident before acting.
He pointed to the global aviation industry, noting that it runs on a common global code of conduct regardless of country or flag. “Whether it's a Chinese system or a US system, it's got to be a global system,” Mittal said, adding that the conversation is not happening at pace.
On India's Global Trade Footprint
Mittal said India is a natural choice for capital at a time of geopolitical turbulence, high oil prices and broken supply chains. He cited its scale, its large consumer base and its ability to harness technology at scale.
He said India's new wave of trade agreements is helping. He listed deals with New Zealand and Australia and the UK pact that took effect days earlier, and said a deal with Europe is about to be signed and talks with Canada are at an advanced stage. The US, he said, remains “a question mark.” Mittal said that is because America is India's largest partner, with over $100 billion of Indian exports at stake amid higher tariffs.
Mittal acknowledged that the rupee has depreciated over the past year and a half, mainly because of supply chain disruptions and oil prices. He called that a temporary phenomenon against a backdrop of long-term policy stability.
On the group's expansion, Mittal said telecom and digital remain its core. Financial services, including consumer lending to Airtel's customer base, is a new vertical in India. The group operates in 14 African countries, and asked about more acquisitions in Europe, he said: “You never say never.”
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