 "IMC 2024: Satcom takes centre stage as Sunil Mittal says 'buy spectrum'")
Auction versus administered allocation of satellite spectrum came into the spotlight at the inaugural session of the India Mobile Congress here on Tuesday. Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, who was the third speaker at the annual telecom meet, got industry watchers excited when he referred to level-playing field between traditional telcos and satellite communication providers.
In his address to the gathering, that included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Reliance Jio Infocomm chairman Akash Ambani and Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, Mittal spoke about the ongoing global debate on how fast growing satellite communication services can co-exist with terrestrial networks. And then he said the government should ensure all satellite communication providers abide by the same legal conditions that traditional telecom operators are subjected to, including paying licence fees, and buying spectrum.
Referring to Indian telcos, Mittal said they will take the satellite services into the remotest part of the nation. However, those satellite companies which have ambitions to come into urban areas serving 'elite, retail customers' need to take the telecom licence just like everybody else, he stressed. He may have been talking about foreign entities such as Starlink and Project Kuiper, currently hopeful of entering the Indian market.
He explained that satellite companies must ‘’be bound with the same conditions, they need to buy the spectrum just like the telecom companies. They need to pay the licence fees as telecom companies do, and also secure their networks like telecom companies do. This is a simple solution that can be adopted on a global scale and India can show the way.
Mittal's comments triggered a debate on whether he was pushing for auction of satellite spectrum. So far, auction of satellite spectrum was championed by Reliance Jio and opposed by Bharti Airtel. Last week, Reliance Jio had written to the telecom minister opposing the telecom regulator TRAI's recommendation of satellite broadband spectrum being allocated and not auctioned.
As TV channels, websites and social media went all out to suggest that the Bharti Group, which is a leading investor in satellite company OneWeb, had changed its stance on how satellite spectrum should be given out, it was time for clarification.
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The Bharti Group issued a statement saying: "Airtel has always maintained that it will use all technologies including satcom to ensure that every nook and corner of the country is covered for high-speed broadband connectivity. This position remains consistent. Even six months back, Airtel had written a letter to the Department of Telecommunications." In that letter, Airtel had supported the government's move to include satcom in the ambit of the Telecommunications Act, 2023, while assigning spectrum for SATCOM on an administrative basis.
As Day One of the summit was coming to an end with the debate on satellite spectrum auction versus administered allocation still holding on, the telecom minister had the last word on the subject. He said the Telecom Act clearly stated that satellite spectrum would be allocated administratively, but at a cost. "That does not mean that spectrum does not come at a cost. What that cost is, and what the formula of that costing is going to be, will be decided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India," Scindia said.
As if pre-empting what was coming, Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX that operates satellite internet constellation Starlink, had said on Monday that a move by India to auction satellite broadband spectrum would be "unprecedented".
Globally, satellite spectrum has not been auctioned so far.
The government is currently in the process of opening up satcom services. It has already granted licences to Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Jio's satellite arm Jio Space Limited. Applications by foreign entities have till now faced multiple hurdles over technicalities and security concerns.