Luxembourg-based SES, in an earlier consultation undertaken last year by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), had strongly opposed any auctioning of satellite spectrum and like all global satellite players such as Amazon, OneWeb, Starlink, Telesat and Hughes, had backed allotment via the administrative route.
Trai: The war between mobile network operators and space broadband players intensified with Jeff Bezos-led Amazon and Bharti group-backed OneWeb calling for allocation of airwaves without auction while Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio, and Vodafone idea, citing level-playing field, sought radiowaves to be auctioned.
Starlink Internet: “We are looking forward to bringing Starlink to India as well which I think can be incredibly useful for remote and rural parts of India where the internet is either slow or too expensive,” Musk told news agency ANI.
The regulator has received comments from as many as 64 stakeholders with the likes of Elon Musks Starlink, Bharti-backed OneWeb, Jeff Bezos-led Amazon and Canadas Telesat directly engaging in the battle over satellite spectrum allotment in India.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has now sought counter-comments by June 22 instead of the earlier June 15 deadline following requests from stakeholders for more time.