Reliance Lobbies for Satellite Spectrum Auction in Clash With Starlink of Elon Musk

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has asked the telecom regulator to reconsider its plans regarding satellite spectrum. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has planned to allocate satellite spectrum rather than auction it.

Last month, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said that the central government will allocate this spectrum as per global trends. However, he also said that the final notification in this regard will be issued after receiving feedback from TRAI. World’s richest man Elon Musk starlink has shown interest in starting its internet service in the country. Earlier, the company had successfully launched its service in Africa.

In a discussion, Ravi Gandhi, senior policy executive of Reliance, had requested TRAI to reconsider this decision. He said that allocating spectrum administratively is the ‘most discriminatory way’ of distributing any government resource. In contrast, Parnil Urdhwareshe, Starlink’s country executive, said the spectrum allocation plan is ‘forward-looking’. TRAI’s suggestions in this regard will come out in the coming weeks. These suggestions will be important in deciding the method of distribution of satellite spectrum. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio is among the big telecom companies. Analysts believe that if there is an auction for this spectrum, more investment may have to be made. This may reduce the interest of foreign companies in it.

To start satellite internet services, telecom companies have to obtain security clearance as well as approval from many ministries. Last year, Reliance Jio had said that it has connected four remote areas with its JioSpaceFiber service. These fields are Gir in Gujarat, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Nabarangpur in Odisha and Jorhat in Assam, ONGC said. Foreign internet service companies had demanded license for this spectrum. These companies believe that if there is an auction for this in India, then this process can be implemented in other countries also. Due to this, these companies may have to face increase in costs.