As per The Telecommunications Act 2023 the government can assign spectrum by administrative process for entries listed in the First Schedule. This list of 19 items also includes satellite-based services.
The big players interested in the satellite communication sector in India have been divided on the issue of spectrum — whether it should be auctioned or administratively allocated. As per a report in this paper, Reliance Jio had earlier this month written to the Department of Telecommunications and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, arguing in favour of auctioning the spectrum. In response to the case being made for an auction, Elon Musk, the owner of Starlink, said in a post on X that it “would be unprecedented, as this spectrum was long designated by the ITU as shared spectrum for satellites”. Satellite spectrum has “no national territorial limits” and is overseen by the International Telecommunications Union. Sunil Mittal, chairperson of Bharti Enterprises, who has a stake in OneWeb, has recently said that in order to service retail customers, firms should buy spectrum and be subject to the same conditions as telecom operators. Bringing some finality to the matter, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Communications, said a few days ago that spectrum for satellite communications will be administratively allocated. This approach is welcome, and in line with the practice followed globally.
As per The Telecommunications Act 2023 the government can assign spectrum by administrative process for entries listed in the First Schedule. This list of 19 items also includes satellite-based services. In September, the telecom regulator had released a consultation paper titled “Terms and Conditions for the Assignment of Spectrum for Certain Satellite-based Commercial Communication Services”. This had delved into the key issues, and had sought industry inputs on several matters relating to frequency bands/ranges for assignment, rollout obligations, spectrum charges, timelines for processing applications, and on how to address the issue of inefficient spectrum usage, among others.
On the contentious issue of spectrum charges, one option that has been indicated is associating spectrum charges, perhaps in terms of percentage, to the company’s adjusted gross revenue (AGR). Another option that has been proposed by some is to also impose an upfront fee which would ensure that only serious players enter the segment. The regulator should now move to provide clarity on these issues in a quick and transparent manner. Considering that the stakes are only going to get bigger — as per Deloitte, India’s satellite broadband service market is expected to touch $1.9 billion by 2030 — the objective should be to ensure a vibrant industry, characterised by healthy competition, not to erect entry barriers.
