Any waiver to be sectoral, not just for Vodafone Idea: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Starlink needs to comply with existing norms, security concerns for satcom licence

A potential bank guarantee waiver will not only be for financially beleaguered Vodafone Idea (Vi) but for the entire sector, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday.

 

“Bank guarantee waivers have already been given post-2022, as part of the spectrum auctions. Any step the government takes will not be company specific, but sectoral,” Scindia told reporters at a media briefing.

 

Vi has been actively seeking the removal of bank guarantee requirements for spectrum acquired before 2022.

 

The telco needs to secure bank guarantees worth Rs 24,700 crore in the coming months. As a result, a change in the current norms will largely benefit Vi, even though it is an industry demand.

 

“All assistance that has been given, has been given from a sectoral standpoint until now except in the case of BSNL, which is 100 per cent government-owned,” Scindia added.

 

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked Vi to submit bank guarantees as an assurance for the spectrum payment of Rs 24,747 crore due in September 2025.

 

DoT has also reached out to the finance ministry on the issue of giving exemption to telcos from submitting bank guarantees for spectrum payment dues.

 

Meanwhile, Vi has pointed out that spectrum auction rules of 2022 and 2024 have removed the requirement for providing bank guarantees for the annual payment instalments by telcos.

 

Compliance must for satcom

 

Scindia reiterated Elon Musk-owned Starlink will have to comply with all norms to get licence for satellite communication services in India. This indicates that the company is yet to fully address the government's security concerns.

 

“We are more than happy (to issue licence), as long as you comply with all the conditions,” Scindia said.

 

He was answering questions on whether the government plans to provide a satcom licence to Starlink.

 

The minister said the satellite internet services provider is in the process of completing all the requirements.

 

“You have to look at it from a security perspective as well, making sure that all the security concerns are addressed. When they do that, we will be more than happy to do it. They are in the process of doing it,” he added.

 

DoT has already granted Bharti Enterprises-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Jio's satellite arm Jio Space the global mobile personal communication by satellite services (GMPCS) licence.

 

Parent groups of both the entities — Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio — remain opposed to foreign satcom providers such as Starlink and Amazon's subsidiary Project Kuiper entering the market to service key retail segments.

 

Both Starlink and Project Kuiper's application for GMPCS licences have faced several hurdles.

 

Key among these is the inability to comply with mandatory ownership disclosure norms put in place by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

 

Security clearance by the Home Ministry has also been held up. 

‘DoT onboarded 750 entities to curb frauds’

 

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has onboarded 750 strategic entities, including 460 banks into a key inter-agency platform to curb fraud, Scindia said. The digital intelligence platform offers a single unified space for banks, payment wallets, social media platforms, and telecom operators to share data regarding suspected fraudulent connections. The DoT is also intercepting 1.35 lakh international spoof calls every day, he added.  The DoT has so far disconnected 2.5 crore fraud SIM connections, blacked 71,000 SIM sellers, and lodged 1900 FIRs against them. It has also traced 1.22 million stolen phones.