Reliance Jio, Airtel Comes TogaTher Against Starlink of elon musk, disappointed with low price for satellite spectrum

Satellite internet services may start soon in the country. However, earlier telecom companies like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have said that if the price of satellite spectrum is kept low then it will harm their business. This can benefit companies providing satellite internet service like Billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink.

Last month, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) proposed to pay four percent of their annual revenue to the central government for satellite internet service providers. Starlinks lobbied for not auctioning the satellite spectrum. Starlink said that licenses should be given for this as per the International Trend. The company argued that this is a natural resource whose communication companies should share.

A report by Reuters states that the Cellular Operators Association of India, in a letter to the Telecom Ministry later last month, has demanded a review of this proposal related to pricing of satellite spectrum. The letter states that satellite internet service providers about 21 percent more to the spectrum than the price for internet service providers. Reuters have seen this letter. It said, “The spectrum should be equally or compared per mHz price per mHz price.”

In this regard, Reliance Jio and Airtel did not answer the request sent by Reuters for comments. Starlink was not available for comment about this. A senior government official told Reuters that the Telecom Ministry is reviewing TRAI’s suggestions. He said that such apprehensions have been raised by the telecom industry before. Over the years, Reliance Jio and other telecom companies have spent about $ 20 billion to get 5G spectrum in auction for telecom, data and broadband service. Reliance Jio demanded auction for satellite spectrum.