Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Mittal call for ‘fair competition’ as Modi govt plans to give license to….

The petition argues that satellite operators providing similar services as terrestrial telecom providers should also comply with the same fees, regulatory levies.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal’s Airtel recently reached out to the central government, requesting it to ensure fairness in the satellite communications industry as it gets ready to make a decision on licensing and spectrum distribution for Elon Musk’s Starlink, ToI reported. Both the telecom giants urged for “comparable” spectrum pricing for satellite operators in order to prevent what they called “market distortions.”

In their petition to the government, Reliance Jio and Airtel accused the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) of ignoring the competitive imbalance between satellite and terrestrial spectrum allocation.

“Comparable spectrum pricing to terrestrial services should be enforced for competing satellite services in urban/semi-urban/rural areas for retail/enterprise customers,” the petition read.

The petition argues that satellite operators providing similar services as terrestrial telecom providers should also comply with the same fees, regulatory levies.

The recently enacted telecom law from December 2023 permits the administrative assignment of satellite spectrum for a fee, contrasting with terrestrial spectrum, which is allocated through auctions. Nonetheless, the details regarding pricing and allocation are still under development by Trai.

Jio and Airtel have raised concerns over low-earth orbit (LEO) mega-constellations, arguing that their broadband speeds and capacity are comparable to those of terrestrial networks. “Given the oversupply of broadband capacity that these entities are bringing to market, they will distort competition of terrestrial broadband, especially in urban/semi-urban areas serving retail/enterprise customers,” the petition stated.

Both the telecom giants agreed that the satellite spectrum must be assigned  administratively at lower prices for selective non-competing uses like – government functions, disaster recovery, defence, maritime, and aviation. The companies also requested that the commercial satellite operators should not get preferential pricing.

The government has maintained its stance on allocating satellite spectrum without conducting auctions, despite concerns from the industry. Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has supported this decision, highlighting the technological distinctions between terrestrial networks and satellite-based systems.