Satcom Spectrum: Scindia Rejects Auction, But With a Cost

New Delhi, Oct 15 (PTI) Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday rejected service providers' demand to auction satcom spectrum but made it clear that radiowaves will come with a cost even if assigned without auction for satellite-based communications services.

Earlier in the day, Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal joined rival firm Reliance Jio in demanding allocation of spectrum for satcom services in the same manner as it is allocated to telecom players.

"The Telecom Act 2023 which was passed in December of last year has very clearly put this in Schedule 1 which means that satcom spectrum will be allocated administratively. That does not mean that spectrum comes without a cost. “ What that cost is and what the formula of that cost is going to be will not be decided by you and me but it will be decided by Trai," Scindia said at India Mobile Congress.

He was responding to a question on telecom operators' demand to allocate spectrum to satcom players through the auction route.

"We have a regulatory authority for telecom and that regulatory authority has been empowered by the constitution to determine what that administrative pricing is going to be? I am very confident that they will come up with the best pricing that should be adopted provided that it is being given in an administrative manner," Scindia said.

On September 27, 2024, Trai floated a consultation process to explore methodology and price for assigning spectrum to satellite companies to provide calling, messaging, broadband and other services in the country.

Reliance Jio last week sought Scindia's intervention to get regulator Trai issue a revised consultation paper on a proposed spectrum allocation rule to ensure a level-playing field between terrestrial and satellite players.

Jio in its letter to Scindia last week, referred to the Supreme Court's judgement in 2G case and indicated that Trai's failure to incorporate questions on level-playing field may lead to legal tussles.

Reliance Jio, in the letter dated October 10, mentioned that satellite communication companies such Elon Musk's Starlink, Amazon's Kupier, Bharti Group-backed OneWeb Eutelsat, and SES-Jio joint venture have expressed interest to provide their services in India, which will directly compete with land based mobile networks, and therefore a fair and transparent auction system for satellite services is essential to ensure level competition.

Mittal at the inaugural ceremony of India Mobile Congress and ITU's World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that satellite companies interested in providing communication services in urban areas will need to buy spectrum like telecom companies.

"Those satellite companies who have ambitions to come into urban areas serving retail customers just need to take the telecom licenses like everybody else and be bound to the same conditions. They need to buy the spectrum as the telecom companies buy," Mittal said.

Mittal's Bharti Enterprise is the single-largest stakeholder in satcom services firm OneWeb and he earlier favoured administrative allocation of spectrum for satcom services.

Later Airtel issued a statement in which it said that the company 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. Airtel has tied up with Eutelsat OneWeb, which has a LEO constellation, only the second one in the world, through which it proposes to provide satcom services in India and Africa.

“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," Airtel said.

Airtel said that mobile operators and satcom operators who have worked in harmony for decades can continue to do so to serve those who are still struggling to find internet connectivity.

Scindia said that satellite spectrum across the world is allocated administratively.

"India is not doing anything different from the rest of the world. Conversely, if you do decide to auction then you are doing something which is different from the rest of the world.

"Satellite spectrum is a very high level of spectrum beyond 7-8 Ghz is shared spectrum. If spectrum is shared then how can you price it individually? I think there are a number of issues that go into decision making which is why globally all countries of the world are following a certain model and India is doing pretty much the same," the minister said.