War Of Billionaire: Musk, Tata, Mittal & Amazon On One Side, Ambani On Other For Satellite Spectrum

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New Delhi: 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. After 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 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 Musk on the side of Tatas, Sunil Bharti Mittal's firm, and Amazon, who too prefer the same route.

But Ambani's 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 auctions.

"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 USD 77 billion and several players are keen on SS," brokerage CLSA said in a note on 'Satellite Spectrum Battle Ahead'.

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, 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).