Elon Musk looks like winning his satellite internet gambit in India

Elon Musk could still be able to extend the services of its Starlink, a constellation of telecom service satellites, if the government sticks to its policy of administrative allocation of radio spectrum for satellite services.

Addressing the ITU World Telecommunications Standardisation Assembly on Tuesday, minister of communications Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the spectrum for satcomm world over is shared through administrative allocation and not generally auctioned. 

If India decides to allocate spectrum for satellite services by setting a price and on a first-cum-first served basis, it would also make telecom services cheaper compared to allocation through a competitive bidding process.

This would also open doors to new communication service providers like Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite services and Amazon’s Project Kuiper with its broadband services into the Indian market.

This, however, will disadvantage Indian telecom companies like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel who have been vocal supporters of spectrum auction. 

Jio’s Mukesh Ambani, in fact, has been trying to corner precious spectrum by advocating auction, which, he said, would ensure a “level playing field”.

Bharti Airtel’s Sunil Mittal, who is also co-chair of Eutelsat, the France-based satcom operator providing services across Europe, Americas, Asia ans Eastern Africa, has also supported auctioning of spectrum instead of administrative allocation.

Musk, on the other hand, warned on Monday that allocation of satellite spectrum through auctions “would be unprecedented“, citing long-standing ITU designations of shared satellite spectrum.

With 950 million internet users and another 490 million remaining to be connected to the internet, India is the most desirable asset for telecom companies the world over. 

Satellite broadband can be more expensive, especially for a country like India, but it has the advantage of facilitating faster expansion of connectivity.

Jio and Airtel, however, are not secluded from satcom capabilities as the two have partners for satellite-based communication services. 

Jio, currently, the country’s largest telcom service provider, has a tie-up with Luxembourg-based SES for its joint venture, Orbit Connect, which, according to Jio, is capable of offering high-speed internet access across the country “at highly affordable prices.”

Airtel, on the other hand, is part of OneWeb India, a subsidiary of low-earth orbit operator Eutelsat OneWeb. It has also received necessary approvals for launching commercial satellite broadband services.