Telecom operators and tech companies have submitted differing views in response to a consultation paper released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), titled “Assignment of Spectrum for Space-based Communication Services.”
Among the telcos, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) have suggested that the spectrum for satellite communication services should be allocated through auction, while Bharti Airtel has opposed it. According to Jio, spectrum assignment between space-based and terrestrial networks must maximise public good and serve the greatest number of people. It stated that there is no better method than free and fair auctions to achieve this goal. Auctioning spectrum is the most transparent method of spectrum assignment and allows service providers to decide on their technology, be it terrestrial, satellite, or any other. It also said that the Supreme Court has unambiguously declared that the right to use such spectrum can only be transferred through a transparent auction and only the apex court can alter this policy on spectrum assignment. Meanwhile, Vi said that the spectrum from 27.5 GHz to 29.5 GHz (including 27.5 GHz to 28.5 GHz) should be put to a fair and transparent auction in line with the Supreme Court Judgment of 2012 and the principle of same service same rules.
However, Airtel is of the view that the auction of satellite spectrum will put Indian players at a disadvantage in comparison to the global competing operators, who simply pay an administrative fee for the resources required for providing the same service in other global markets. The operator expressed concern that auctioning the satellite spectrum and creating an exclusiveness will create barriers for competition as competitors may block access to it by bidding and winning partial or full spectrum in spite of having no such global allocation, and make satellite systems redundant and severely hamper the emerging space ecosystem in the country. The company said that the auctioning spectrum and then creating a sharing mechanism is self-defeating. It is akin to bringing an intermediary between the spectrum licensor and the user licensee. It added that such an intermediary will have to initially buy the spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and then, through a mandatory sharing mechanism, offer the same spectrum to actual satellite spectrum users. This will bring in needless complexities since user satcom players will have to stitch multiple sharing arrangements together with different spectrum winners or owners.
On the other hand, tech firms such as Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Telesat, Nelco, Hughes Communications and OneWeb have taken a united stand and expressed that spectrum for satellite communication services should not be auctioned. According to Starlink, TRAI’s choice of spectrum assignment process must recognise that when it comes to shared spectrum use by satellites, the triple benefits of increased competition through numerous operators, maximisation of consumer choice, and revenue optimisation are all fundamentally aligned. In addition, Amazon’s Kuiper submitted that auctioning spectrum used for satellite services in the higher frequency bands would block other potential users and artificially limit competition to only a few players. Auctions can also result in higher prices for customers, as winning bidders pass through their spectrum acquisition on costs.
