Musk's Starlink wins as Center rejects spectrum auction proposal from Ambani and Mittal | the news

Local wireless carriers are resisting the government's awarding of satellite broadband airwaves at pre-set prices, saying it creates an uneven playing field because they have to compete in an auction to obtain spectrum for terrestrial wireless networks. .

Losing subscribers

An allocation of spectrum at government-set prices would allow foreign companies like Starlink to offer voice and data services. This poses a business threat to Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd as Starlink could alienate their huge customer base at a time when phone data usage is growing rapidly.

Reliance Jio and Bharti are India's largest and second largest operators respectively.

The Narendra Modi-led government faces the task of attracting foreign investment, especially from heavyweights like Musk, and balancing the demands of local wireless companies led by Ambani and Mittal. For now, the balance seems to be tipping in favor of Starlink. Musk thanked India in an October 16 post on X.

The official stance came days after Reliance Jio proposed the auction route – a claim that would have made it expensive for Starlink to launch services in the world's most populous country. Starlink is still awaiting government approval to begin operations in the country.

Reliance Jio, in a letter to India's telecom ministry on October 10, sought “a fair and transparent auction system for satellite services” to ensure a level playing field between satellite and terrestrial mobile service providers. Bloomberg News.

The operator asked for “the same service, the same rules” and competitive auction prices for satellite broadband spectrum, the letter said.

'like everyone else'

A day earlier, Mittal had also defended the auction, saying satellite broadband providers should secure spectrum in India in the same way as incumbent telecom operators have done.

“Satellite companies aspiring to enter urban areas to serve elite retail customers will have to obtain telecom licenses like everyone else,” he said at an industry event in New Delhi.

Musk, in an Oct. 14 post on X, called the claim “unprecedented,” without naming names.

While Ambani, Asia's richest man, Mittal-backed Eutelsat OneWeb is vying for a share of the satellite broadband segment in India, they are also in damage control mode. They are looking to protect their telecom giants' customer base against new entrants potentially getting cheap airwaves to offer similar services.

“They have to buy spectrum like telecommunications companies buy”, Mittal; said Tuesday. “They have to pay license fees and secure networks like telecommunications companies.”