NEW DELHI, Oct 15 – India’s government on Tuesday said it will allot spectrum for satellite broadband administratively and not via auction, hours after Elon Musk criticized the auction route being sought by rival billionaire Mukesh Ambani as “unprecedented”.
Union telecommunication minister Jyotiraditya Scindia cleared the government’s stance over the issue, saying that spectrum will not be auctioned but it will be allocated administratively. He made it clear that the service providers will have to pay the cost.
Musk’s Starlink argues administrative allotment of licences is in line with a global trend, while India’s Reliance, led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, says an auction is needed to ensure a level playing field and as there are no provisions in Indian law on how individuals can be provided satellite broadband services.
Telecoms Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said during a New Delhi event that the spectrum will be allocated administratively in line with Indian laws, and its pricing worked out by the telecom watchdog.
“If you do decide to auction it, then you will be doing something which is different from the rest of the world,” he said.
Musk was appreciative of the government’s decision, and said on social media platform X, “We will do our best to serve the people of India with Starlink”.
It came as a major setback for Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel after the Centre clearly rejected the ‘auction’ route for satellite broadband spectrum allocation, saying that allocation will be done administratively under the Telecom Act, 2023.
Both service providers have been demanding an ‘auction’ route while starline CEO Elon Musk said the auction route will violate the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nation agency for digital technology.
While responding to a question during a press conference, Scindia said, “ The Telecom Act 2023 which was passed last year in the month of December has very categorically placed this in Schedule 1 which means the allocation will be done administratively.”
Elon Musk wants to go with global trends and reasoned why he wants administrative allocation. He took to X and wrote that the decision of auction ‘would be unprecedented.’ “That would be unprecedented, as this spectrum was long designated by the ITU as shared spectrum for satellites,” He wrote on X.
Airtel had pitched for an auction route. Last week, Reliance Jio had sent a letter to union minister Jyotiaditya Scindia to hold a transparent auction. The company had also written a letter to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and sought a revision of the consultation paper on recommending rules.
News agency Reuters reported on Sunday that Reliance had challenged the Indian telecom regulator’s consultation process, which suggests that satellite broadband spectrum should be allocated, not auctioned. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is the regulatory body on the matter, and its final recommendations could significantly influence the Centre’s decision. Notably, Bharti Airtel’s Sunil Mittal also echoed Musk’s views on the licensing route on Tuesday. Musk is eager to launch Starlink in India, but unresolved spectrum allocation issues could act as a hurdle.
