Starlink Wants To Enter,
Crazy Rich India Immediately Nervous
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia –Elon Musk is targeting India as a new target to launch satellite-based internet access, Starlink. However, it seems that Musk has to face a debate regarding spectrum allocation regulations in the country.
Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who is the owner of the number one telecommunications operator in India, Reliance Jio, asked local regulators to distribute spectrum allocation for broadband satellites using the auction method.
According to Ambani, the regulator made a mistake by creating a spectrum allocation method, not by auction.
This was conveyed in a letter to the regulator seen by Reuters. This shows the fierce debate in welcoming Starlink’s entry into India.
Satellite services in India are predicted to grow 36% annually and will reach a value of US$ 1.9 billion by 2030 according to a Deloitte report.
Starlink and several foreign satellite providers such as Amazon’s Project Kuiper, tend to support the administration of spectrum allocation from the government.
Meanwhile, Ambani, India’s richest man and the chairman of Reliance Jio, is leaning towards an auction process.
The current dispute is over the interpretation of Indian law that some industry players say paves the way for spectrum allocation as Musk wants.
But Reliance argues that there is no provision that applies to satellite broadband services for individual or home users, industry sources said.
India’s telecom regulator TRAI is holding a public consultation on the matter. But Reliance in a private letter dated Oct. 10 seen by Reuters asked for the process to start afresh because the watchdog had “biasedly interpreted” spectrum allocation as the way forward.
“TRAI appears to have concluded, without any basis, that spectrum allocation should be administrative,” Reliance’s senior regulatory official Kapoor Singh Guliani wrote in a letter to India’s telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
In a statement, TRAI said the consultation process was ongoing and Reliance could provide input during that period.
Starlink argued that administrative spectrum allocation was in line with global trends. Reliance said the auction was necessary to maintain fair play amid an onslaught of foreign companies seeking to compete with local players.
SOURCE : CNBC INDONESIA
