Rivals turn the heat on Sunil Mittal's stand on satellite spectrum

Mittal had said, with Airtel setting up only two ground stations for uplinking in rural areas, the requirement for spectrum was minimal and different from terrestrial mobile services

Rival telecom companies have challenged Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal’s call for spectrum for satellite broadband to be given at an administered price instead of being auctioned.

Mittal had been speaking at the launch of more LEO satellites for his global satellite foray One Web a few weeks ago. He said that, with Airtel setting up only two ground stations for uplinking in rural areas, the requirement for spectrum was minimal and different from terrestrial mobile services where spectrum was needed across the country.

Reacting to this remark, an industry veteran said Mittal had omitted to mention that he will not be