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Government Scrapped Spectrum Auction After Elon Musk's Objection To Ambani's Pitch?

Elon Musk also took a dig at Ambani and has been a vocal critic of the auction route, which was preferred by Jio owner Mukesh Ambani.

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Government Scrapped Spectrum Auction After Elon Musk's Objection To Ambani's Pitch?

Government Scraps Spectrum Auction After Elon Musk's Objection To Ambani's Pitch.

The Indian government has decided to allocate the satellite communication spectrum administratively on Wednesday instead of auctioning it off. This decision comes after Elon Musk, CEO of Starlink objected to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio pushing for an auction. Musk argued that auctioning satellite spectrum would be unprecedented and go against global practices.


Musk’s venture Starlink, along with Amazon’s Project Kuiper supports administrative allocation citing the the International Telecommunication Union’s designation of satellite spectrum policies as he eyes Starlink to make debut in the race.


Elon Musk also took a dig at Ambani and has been a vocal critic of the auction route and policies which was preferred by Jio owner Mukesh Ambani. While responding to a post, Musk said: “I will call and ask if it would not be too much trouble to allow Starlink to compete to provide Internet services to the people of India.”

On the contrary,  Reliance Jio wanted an auction to ensure a level playing field for telecom operators. Sunil Mittal, head of Bharti Airtel, also backed an auction stating that the satellite companies should follow the same licensing rules as telecom operators. It was said that the satellite broadband market in India anticipates a growth of reaching $1.9 billion by 2030. Following this decision, Musk’s Starlink is set to make its entry and OneWeb and Telesat offer satellite-based internet services in remote areas in India

Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced India will follow global trends in administrative spectrum allocation. The cost will be determined by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to ensure fairness. Scindia said, “Satellite spectrum across the world is allocated administratively. So, India is not doing anything different from the rest of the world.”

Following this satellite communication spectrum administrative allocation, Musk’s Starlink is set to make its entry and OneWeb (Sunil Mittal)  and Telesat (Telesat Corporation) offer satellite-based internet services in remote areas in India. Scindia also said that India will lead the 6G Revolution while ensuring inclusion and equity for those currently unconnected while inaugurating the International 6G Symposium on Wednesday.


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Topics
Allocates administration Elon Musk Mukesh Ambani telecom ministry Telecom spectrum auction

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