The ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI) has said satellite operators would not be able to compete with mobile operators in spectrum auctions due to different business models.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis would lead to mobile operators winning the satellite spectrum auctions and becoming the exclusive \u201cgatekeepers\u201d of satellite-usable spectrum in the country,\u201d the IAFI said in its counter-comments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).<\/p>\n
According to IAFI, the auction winner would become the \u201cspectrum gatekeeper\u201d with which satellite operators would have to negotiate a private contract agreement in a \u201cnon-transparent process\u201d to be able to use the spectrum that could have been shared in the first place.<\/p>\n
IAFI argued that this will lead to a \u201cmonopolistic or semi-monopolistic\u201d situation which will hamper connectivity, limit the amount of usable spectrum, and achievable performance, and ultimately impact the end users.<\/p>\n
\u201cFurthermore, the aspect of possible \u201ccompetition\u201d between the two different services needs to be carefully represented,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The non-profit association also discarded the \u201csame service, same rules\u201d assertion, citing that it cannot be used to compare mobile cellular and satellite services due to their distinct operational characteristics and spectrum usage.<\/p>\n
\u201cMobile services target densely populated areas and require exclusive spectrum use to avoid interference, leading to high spectrum costs. On the other hand, satellite services provide critical connectivity to rural and underserved areas, operating on a non-exclusive basis, which allows for spectrum sharing among operators,\u201d said IAFI, suggesting a \u201cright rule for right service\u201d model instead.<\/p>\n
It is to be noted that Jeff Bezos-led Amazon, Bharti Group-based OneWeb, and Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink have openly dismissed Mukesh Ambani-driven Reliance Jio\u2019s call for \u201csame service, same rules\u201d principle for allotment of satellite spectrum, saying it is a totally misleading approach towards spectrum policy.<\/p>\n
They added that trying to fit the satellite service model into the \u201csame service, same rules\u201d narrative is not only misguided but even risks stifling the enormous potential that satellite services hold for achieving digital inclusivity in India.<\/p>\n
IAFI said that while cellular services reach billions of customers with corresponding revenues, satellite service provision is, in comparison, niche but indispensable, filling in the gaps in terrestrial service provision to \u201cguarantee safety, connectivity and equal opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI) has said satellite operators would not be able to compete with mobile operators in spectrum auctions due to different business models. \u201cThis would lead to mobile operators winning the satellite spectrum auctions and becoming the exclusive \u201cgatekeepers\u201d of satellite-usable spectrum in the country,\u201d the IAFI said in its counter-comments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). According to IAFI, the auction winner would become the \u201cspectrum gatekeeper\u201d with which satellite operators would have to negotiate a private contract agreement in a \u201cnon-transparent process\u201d to be able to use the spectrum that could have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-800287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-telecom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}