Telecom operators want level-playing field with satellite companies

Move comes days after Elon Musk tweets on Starlink internet services in India

Telecom operators have written to the department of space to avoid the ‘backdoor’ entry of satellite communications operators in the country. The move comes a few days after billionaire businessman Elon Musk tweeted that his Starlink internet services would be available in India  as soon as it gets regulatory approvals next year. 

Musk’s Starlink, which plans to have a constellation of 40,000 low-orbit satellites, recently started offering high-speed internet in the US as part of its beta launch phase.

Responding to the draft Spacecom Policy, released by the Indian Space Research Organisation last month (ISRO), the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has said that the non-government private entities (NGPE) which have been permitted to establish space systems to provide communication services in India, should be subjected to a similar licensing regime as telecom service providers (TSPs), for the same service, to ensure a level-playing field. 

They want the NGPEs to acquire spectrum only through auction, the way telcos do, and not through a mere authorisation by the department of telecommunications (DoT) as has been suggested in the draft note. In the latter case, the price of the spectrum would be nominal.

Also, since the DoT is the custodian of the entire spectrum, an NGPE should take a telecom licence from it and acquire spectrum in a transparent manner before making satellite filings to the International Telecommunication Union, or acquiring a space asset.

The telcos have warned the DoT that a licence is necessary as the “international satellite lobby” may establish a number of NGPEs to come up with an unjustified number of paper satellite filings, “disproportionate to the Indian market demands” and begin claiming “protection from the terrestrial use of millimeter wave bands (of future spectrum bands) identified for IMT services.”

The letter says that this “abnormal protection” will increase the cost of deploying terrestrial mobile systems many times over, thus depriving Indians of affordable 5G services. To avoid this situation, “stringent criterion and control on private satellite filings and the protection criterion must be considered after these NGPEs acquire spectrum through auction”, the letter said.

The telcos have also pointed out that direct-to-home (DTH) operators are facing capacity constraints as they are permitted to operate only in fixed satellite service bands. Hence, they have requested that the broadcast satellite services band should also be opened up to them. As DTH players require huge satellite capacity, they should be allowed to own their satellites, based on their business needs.

Globally, satellite-based broadband services have been catching on. Bharti Airtel has bought a 45 per cent stake in global communications company OneWeb for $500 million. 

Bharti CEO Sunil Mittal has announced that the services would be on offer in India by early 2022 and would be useful in remote areas of the country such as Andaman & Nicobar Islands, parts of Rajasthan and the forests of Madhya Pradesh. OneWeb has a constellation of 648 low-orbit satellites across the world. 

Many other global companies like broadband technology firm Hughes are also looking to foray into this market with their broadband offerings.