Elon Musk, Amazon on one side, Ambani on other for satellite spectrum

Elon Musk wants his Starlink to beam down wireless internet in India from satellites orbiting the earth but the licensing regime his group favours has put him at odds with Mukesh Ambanis RelianceAfter meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York last week Musk on June 21 said he was keen to launch Starlink in India that can be incredibly helpful in bringing the internet to remote villages that lack onground infrastructureBut Starlink wants India to just assign a license for the service and not insist on auctioning the signalcarrying spectrum or airwaves This stand finds Musk on the side of Tatas Sunil Bharti Mittals firm and Amazon who too prefer the same route But Ambanis Reliance says there must be an auction of spectrum for foreign satellite service providers to offer voice and data services to provide a level playing field to traditional telecom players who offer the same services using airwaves bought in government auctionsIndias spacebased communication services SS spectrum decision is key Mobile spectrum has been auctioned since 2010 with the governments cumulative sale of USD 77 billion and several players are keen on SS brokerage CLSA said in a note on Satellite Spectrum Battle AheadBased on comments provided by various companies to the sector regulator TRAIs consultations on the issue CLSA said several players including Starlink are keen on India SSAmazons Kuiper Tata Bharti Airtelbacked OneWeb and Larsen amp Toubro are against the auction while Reliance Jio and VodafoneIdea support an India SS auction it saidSources said some in the government believe an auction is the best route as it would get the foreign companies to commit investment in the country Also it will allow some kind of regulation over content that can be streamed on OTT platforms using the SSAt a global level ITU manages spectrum satellite orbit resources and coordinates the planning of new satellite networks to ensure interferencefree SSITU coordinates orbit slots and frequency bands but India will assign spectrum to licensees for gateway links to satellites and user links terminal and satelliteThe Department of Telecom has granted licences to Oneweb India and Jio Satellite Comm in partnership with SES but final SS policies are awaited A key decision for SS will be what method should be used to assign spectrum for user links Lband amp Sband auction or administrative This includes higher bands C Ku amp Ka and if this will be at national or circle level like mobile it saidInternationally spectrum for SS and orbital slots were auctioned in key markets of the US and Brazil but both then reverted to the administrative assignmentOf the 64 responses from companies industry groups and others to the public consultation on satellite spectrum 48 favoured licensing 12 voted for an auction and the rest were neutralCLSA said OneWebs view is that SS should be assigned administratively on a shared basis and harmonised internationally Through Starlink Musks SpaceX which is authorised in 84 administrations 15 million users sees the best approach for SS spectrum is a shared model with administrative assignmentThe Kuiper project of Amazon which plans to launch its first set of satellites in 2024 recommends administrative assignment and also says spectrumsharing obligations after auctions would create inefficienciesAs per Reliance Jio RJio which is the market leader in India with close to 440 million telecom users and 8 million wired broadband subscribers satellite operators are planning networks to compete with terrestrial service providers and auctioning SS is the sole viable strategyVodafoneIdea too has urged the regulator for auction to uphold a level playing fieldBharti Airtel believes auctioning SS spectrum will create barriers for competition as some may block access by winning the spectrum in spite of having no global allocationReliance Jio and Bharti are currently rolling out 5G services in the country SS when integrated with existing 5G coverage will extend capabilities of 5G networks to where cell coverage is not expected to reach and will also boost enterprise offering CLSA saidHowever in India low mobile tariffs in 5G of USD 017 per GB vs USD 6 in US and USD 04 in China will be a challenge for providing SS it said SS spectrum allocation via auction or administrative allotment will also be key to telecoms competitive landscape including in 5G and access to the underservedDeloitte expects Indias satellite broadband service market to grow by 36 per cent a year to reach USD 19 billion by 2030This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever