According to documents seen by Reuters, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance is suing India’s telecom watchdog TRAI over the latter’s stand on spectrum allocation for satellite internet. This adds to Elon Musk’s competition with Starlink, which favors an administrative spectrum allocation process as opposed to a public auction.
The topic of this discussion is India’s satellite broadband industry, expanding 36% annually to $1.9 trillion by 2030. While multinationals like Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper support direct participation led by Asia’s richest, Reliance guarantees that fair competition is forcing spectrum auction to pay.
The interpretation of Indian laws to determine how spectrum should be allocated for satellite services is the main point of disagreement. According to some, this legislation enabled Starlink to support the share plan that took place last year. However, Reliance says the existing rules do not contemplate satellite broadband services for single users or households, and has asked TRAI to reconsider its decision
Kapoor Singh Guliani, senior regulator at Reliance, wrote to India’s telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on October 10, saying TRAI had taken a hasty decision to allocate the spectrum on an operational basis without giving proper justification. To ensure fairness, the company is requesting TRAI to restart the consultation process and consider the auction.
Reliance’s contribution is acceptable, according to TRAI, which confirmed that its talks are still ongoing. The Government’s final decision on this matter will be subject to recommendations by the telecommunications regulator. Though spectrum availability remains a major hurdle, Starlink is keen to tap into the Indian market.
Despite Starlink’s claim that direct spectrum allocation follows international offers, Reliance believes that auctions are necessary to maintain fair competition, especially the fact that foreign competitors like Starlink have the ability to challenge the established telecommunications networks offering voice and data services .
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