What Is Elon Musk-led Starlink's Proposal That Tata & Mittal Are Favouring But Ambani Is Opposing?
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 Ambani's Reliance.
World's richest person Elon Musk wants his satellite network 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 India's richest person Mukesh Ambani's Reliance.
Elon Musk's Starlink Planning To Enter India
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After meeting PM Modi last week in the US, Elon Musk said that he was keen to launch Starlink in India, as it can be "incredibly helpful" in bringing the internet to remote villages that lack on-ground infrastructure.
But Starlink wants India to just assign a license for the service and not insist on auctioning the signal-carrying spectrum or airwaves. This stand finds Elon Musk on the side of Tatas, Sunil Bharti Mittal's firm, and Amazon, who too prefer the same route.
However, Ambani's Reliance Jio 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 auctions, as per PTI.
"India's space-based communication services (SS) spectrum decision is key. Mobile spectrum has been auctioned since 2010 with the government's cumulative sale of $77 billion and several players are keen on SS," brokerage CLSA said in a note on 'Satellite Spectrum Battle Ahead'.
Govt Continues To Believe in Auction Despite Starlink's Proposal
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Based on comments provided by various companies to the sector regulator TRAI's consultations on the issue, CLSA said several players, including Starlink, are keen on India SS. Amazon's Kuiper, Tata, Bharti Airtel-backed OneWeb, and Larsen & Toubro are against the auction while Reliance Jio and Vodafone-Idea support an India SS auction, it said.
Sources 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 SS. At a global level, ITU manages spectrum and satellite orbit resources and coordinates the planning of new satellite networks to ensure interference-free SS.
ITU coordinates orbit slots and frequency bands, but India will assign spectrum to licensees for gateway links to satellites and user links (terminal and satellite).
The 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 (L-band & S-band): auction or administrative. This includes higher bands (C, Ku & Ka) and if this will be at national or circle level (like mobile)," it said, as per the report.
Also Read: List Of Companies Co-Founded/Headed By Elon Musk
Why Reliance Is Opposing Starlink's Proposal
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As per Reliance Jio (RJio), satellite operators are planning networks to compete with terrestrial service providers and auctioning space-based communication services (SS) is the sole viable strategy. Like Reliance, Vodafone-Idea, too, has urged the regulator for auction to uphold a level playing field, as per the report. Bharti Airtel believes auctioning the SS spectrum will create barriers to competition as some may block access by winning the spectrum in spite of having no global allocation.
Reliance Jio and Bharti are currently rolling out 5G services in the country. SS, when integrated with existing 5G coverage, will extend the capabilities of 5G networks to where cell coverage is not expected to reach and will also boost enterprise offering, CLSA said.
"However, in India, low mobile tariffs in 5G of $0.17 per GB (vs $6 in US and $0.4 in China) will be a challenge for providing space-based communication services," it said. "SS spectrum allocation via auction or administrative allotment will also be key to telecom's competitive landscape, including in 5G and access to the under-served." Audit giant Deloitte expects India's satellite broadband service market to grow by 36 per cent a year to reach $1.9 billion by 2030.
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