Indian billionaire industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal are undoubtedly demanding auction of spectrum for satellite broadband, but Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia made it clear on Thursday that instead of auctioning the spectrum for satellite broadband, it will be allocated. According to language news, Elon Musk’s company Starlink has also advocated for its allotment. The Union Minister has said that satellite broadband spectrum will not be given free and the Telecom Regulator (TRAI) will decide the price for it.
Must comply with ITU
According to the news, the Union Minister said that every country has to follow the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is the organization that sets the policy for spectrum in space or satellites. ITU has been very clear on the issue of spectrum being given on assignment basis. He said that if you look around the world today, I do not see a single country which auctions spectrum for satellite. Let us tell you, India is a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the United Nations Agency for Digital Technology.
Starlink and Project Kuiper are supporting the allotment
Global competitors like Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper have supported administrative allocations. Ambani’s Reliance Jio is pushing for allocation of such spectrum through auctions to provide a level playing field to legacy operators who buy spectrum, set up infrastructure like telecom towers. At the same time, Mittal had stressed the need to bid for such allocation at an industry function last month in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jio and Mittal’s Bharti Airtel are the first and second largest telecom companies in India.
An environment of unequal competition will be created!
Jio and Airtel believe that giving satellite broadband spectrum at a pre-determined price by the government will create an uneven competition as they will have to compete in auctions to acquire spectrum for their terrestrial ‘wireless phone networks’. Both the companies are also competing for a stake in the satellite broadband sector. Musk-led Starlink is seeking administrative allocation of licenses as it seeks to enter the world’s fastest-growing mobile telephony and internet market, according to Global Trends.
