The government is open to giving a services licence to Elon Musk’s Starlink as long as it complies with conditions laid down for offering the service in India and addresses security concerns, Union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday.
Starlink has to “check all the boxes” before the government gives the approval, he said during a media briefing.
“We’re ready to give a licence as long as they’re complying with all the conditions from a security perspective. They have to ensure that all security concerns are addressed. They’re in the process of addressing the (security) concerns, and they have to check all the boxes,” Scindia said while noting that the SpaceX-owned satellite broadband provider’s application was under process.
He did not elaborate on the security concerns the Indian government has raised with Starlink.
Indian telcos’ resistance
Indian telecom players Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd are resiting Starlink’s entry into the Indian satellite broadband market on the grounds that the US-based firm’s direct-to-consumer service will compete with the Indian telcos’ retail services, distorting the level-playing field.
The spectrum allocation for satellite broadband has been at the centre of the ongoing tussle between the two sides. Starlink has sought administrative spectrum allocation, and telcos have cited ‘same service, same rules’ as the benchmark for spectrum allocation.
Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal has advocated that airwaves be allocated administratively in rural areas. He has stated that in urban areas where elite customers are being served, non-terrestrial networks should not be allowed to compete with terrestrial networks and should instead be mandated to take a licence for spectrum and pay dues and taxes to the government like other carriers.
Jio has called for the auction of satellite broadband spectrum to ensure adherence to the principle of ‘same service, same rules’.
‘Same service, same rules’ is a principle that refers to the idea that telecom operators and any other company that offers similar services as telcos should be regulated in the same way.
The regulator’s view
India’s telecom regulator, which is presently deciding on the method of spectrum allocation for satellite broadband services in the country, has publicly stated these views, including during an open-house discussion last week.
“We are working in a hyper-competitive market. We are not afraid of competition. The entities wanting to be in this space via satellite, in the telecommunication space via satellite, are afraid of competition, and that’s why they want all this kind of protection,” Ravi Gandhi of Reliance Jio said in the open house on Monday.
Parnil Urdhwareshe, director of Starlink Satellite Communications, asserted that Indian users want satellite broadband services and that these “intelligent consumers” have the right to choose an operator who will provide them with affordable, high-quality service.
The sector regulator is likely to finalize its recommendations on the proposed rules by 15 December, news agency PTI reported on Monday.
The government will evaluate recommendations and then decide on allocating spectrum to satellite communication companies.