India Supports Musk in Satellite Spectrum Dispute

India said on Tuesday that it would give spectrum for satellite services through administrative means instead of auction

This move aligns with what Elon Musk said recently and goes against what the country’s biggest telecom companies have been trying to do.

The Indian Communications Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said on Tuesday night, “Spectrum for satcomm is shared spectrum and cannot be auctioned.” Administratively allocating satellite bandwidth is done all over the world.

This action helps Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper, both of which have pushed for shared spectrum sharing. It goes against what Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, and Reliance Jio have been saying. They want bids to ensure everyone has a “level playing field.”

Musk said on Monday that auctioning off satellite spectrum “would be unprecedented,” pointing out that the ITU has long used shared satellite bandwidth to make this point.

The ruling worsens the battle between billionaires over India’s satellite internet market. Sunil Mittal, co-chair of Eutelsat and chair of Bharti Airtel, said earlier on Tuesday that urban satellite companies should “take the telecom licenses like everybody else” and buy airwaves similarly.

“Therefore, mobile operators and satcom operators, who have worked together for decades, can continue to do so to serve those still having trouble connecting to the internet,” Airtel said after Mittal’s comments.