Win for Musk’s Starlink as India Says No to Spectrum Auction Pitch from Ambani, Mittal
- Minister says satellite spectrum is not auctioned globally
- Jio, Bharti want level playing field with satellite broadband
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Elon Musk’s Starlink Inc. has logged a win in the fight for India’s satellite broadband market with a government minister saying the spectrum will be allocated, and not auctioned as sought by homegrown billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal.
Airwaves for this use have been administratively allocated across the world and India will align with that trend, India’s telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told reporters on Tuesday. But satellite broadband spectrum cannot be given free and the local regulator will oversee the pricing of this resource, he said.