Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio seeks revised paper on satellite spectrum allocation, alleges...

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio is the largest telecom company in India. It has been expanding its business since its inception in 2016 providing services such as Jio Fiber, Jio AirFiber among others. The Reliance Group company also plans to enter the satellite communication business in future. It has now urged telecom regulator Trai to come up with a revised paper on spectrum allocation for satellite communication.

It has alleged that it ignores the key point of ensuring a level playing field between satellite and terrestrial services. The decision on spectrum price and allocation methodology will pave the way for satellite-based broadband services from companies like Elon Musk-owned Starlink, Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, and Jio Satellite Communications, across India.

In a letter to Trai chairman, Anil Kumar Lahoti, Reliance Jio has sought revision of the consultation paper on recommending rules for "terms and conditions for the assignment of spectrum for certain satellite-based commercial communication services".

"We are surprised that the consultation paper has completely overlooked the critical issue of ensuring level-playing field between satellite-based and terrestrial access services. This omission has resulted in the lack of any questions addressing the need to create a level-playing field between these services," Reliance Jio (RJIL) said in a letter dated October 4.

Jio said that due to the omission of this point, stakeholders will not be able to adequately consider and provide relevant inputs to Trai which will undermine the fairness of recommendations and the government's intent to promote balanced competition.

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On September 27, 2024, Trai floated a consultation process to explore methodology and price for assigning spectrum to satellite companies to provide calling, messaging, broadband and other services in the country.

Trai has invited comments on 21 points, including a method for determining spectrum charges, frequency bands for the satellite communications services, duration of assignment, and provision for surrendering spectrum, etc. The regulator has fixed October 18 for comments and October 25 for counter comments on the paper.

(With inputs from PTI)