No auction for satellite spectrum, says Scindia
Scindia emphasised that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India would determine the pricing structure
India will allot spectrum for satellite broadband administratively and not via auction, communications ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia clarified on Tuesday, amid suggestions from India’s two largest telcos for bids to be held on spectrum rights.
Satellite services in India is set to grow 36% a year to reach $1.9 billion by 2030, according to estimates.
Scindia, citing the Telecommunications Act 2023 and global practices, said satellite spectrum would be allocated administratively. He emphasised that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) would determine the pricing structure.
“Satellite spectrum across the world is allocated administratively. India is not doing anything different from the rest of the world,” Scindia said. “If you do decide on auctioning, then you will be doing something that is different from the rest of the world.”
The minister’s comments came after Bharti Enterprises chairperson Sunil Bharti Mittal advocated for auctioning satellite spectrum in connected areas, aligning closely with rival Jio’s stance. This position puts India’s two largest telecom operators at odds with Elon Musk’s Starlink, which has backed an allocation and not an auction.
While Mukesh Ambani’s Jio has called for all satcom spectrum to be auctioned, Mittal’s stance is slightly different. The Bharti Airtel chairperson has suggested that satcom providers targeting urban areas and “elite retail customers” should be subject to the same rules as telecom companies, including spectrum auctions.
“Those satellite companies who have ambitions to come into urban areas, serving elite retail customers just need to take the telecom licences like everybody else, be bound to the same conditions,” Mittal said.
However, for providers aiming to connect remote, unserved areas, Mittal supported administrative allocation of satellite spectrum.
In a statement following Mittal’s remarks, Airtel said, “Satellite operators who want to provide services to urban areas and retail customers indeed need to go through the regular licensing process of any country, and in this case, India, to obtain a license; buy the spectrum; undertake all the obligations, including rollout and security; pay their license fees and taxes and they would be welcomed by the telecom fraternity.”
Under the Telecommunications Act, satellite-based services such as global mobile personal communication by satellites (GMPCS) and very small aperture terminal (VSAT) communications will be assigned through administrative process instead of auction. However, Section 4 of the act, dealing with spectrum assignment, has not yet been implemented by the government.
On Monday, Musk in a post on X responded to reports of Jio’s push for spectrum auctions, by saying: “That (auctioning satellite spectrum) would be unprecedented, as this spectrum was long designated by the ITU as shared spectrum for satellites.”
TRAI released a consultation paper on September 27 regarding “Terms and Conditions for the Assignment of Spectrum for Certain Satellite-Based Commercial Communication Services”, with comments due by October 18.
Jio responded by writing to TRAI chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti and later to Scindia, seeking amendments to the paper.
“TRAI seems to have concluded, without any basis, that spectrum assignment should be administrative,” Jio stated in its letter to Scindia, according to a Reuters report.
Jio argued that satellite-based services and terrestrial networks no longer operate in mutually exclusive zones, creating an uneven playing field in connected areas where they compete.
Indian data should remain in local centres: Akash Ambani
At the inauguration of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) and India Mobile Congress on Tuesday, Reliance Jio chairperson Akash Ambani also called for data localisation.
“The scale and speed of multilingual data generation in India, which will drive the AI revolution, will grow exponentially,” Ambani said. “We request the government to expedite the updating of the 2020 draft of the Data Centre Policy. Indian data should remain in Indian data centres.”
The draft national data centre policy, introduced in 2020, aimed to incentivise the establishment of data centres within India through single-window clearances. However, it has not been finalised, and recent legislation has diluted data localisation requirements.
When asked about potential re-examination of data localisation policies, Scindia deferred to the IT ministry, saying that such decisions fall under their purview.