Recently tabled bill by Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw proposed the allocation of spectrum for satellite communication companies through licensing rather than bidding in an auction. This proposal was included in a new draft bill for the telecommunications sector. And if approved in parliament it will replace the 138-year-old Indian Telegraph Act.
This proposal is good news for private players like Starlink and similar global peers like Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and UK gov UK-backed OneWeb. It’s no less than a setback for Asia’s wealthiest person Mukesh Ambani who runs Reliance Jio.
Starlink the auction said earlier that it may impose geographical restrictions that would eventually cause the price rise too, reported Reuters in a report. The same report reported that Reliance has shown its disagreement with this thus saying that foreign satellite service providers could provide services like voice and data, competing with traditional telecom players.
