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Musk fights Ambani over India satellite spectrum

assignment

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Musk says any India move to auction spectrum

'unprecedented'

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His reaction comes after new Ambani lobbying effort

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Ambani has been lobbying Indian govt for auction route

(Adds comments from Eutelsat co-chair in paragraphs 8-10)

By Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The fight over how India

should allocate satellite broadband spectrum intensified on

Tuesday as Elon Musk said any move by New Delhi to auction it,

rather than allocate it, would be "unprecedented", challenging

the position of rival billionaires.

In what is seen as a battle between billionaires, the

methodology of awarding spectrum for satellite services in India

- a market set to grow 36% a year to reach $1.9 billion by 2030

- has been a contentious issue since last year.

Musk's Starlink argues administrative allotment of licences

is in line with a global trend, while India's Reliance, led by

billionaire Mukesh Ambani, says an auction is needed for a level

playing field.

On Sunday, Reuters was first to report that Reliance has

challenged the Indian telecom regulator's consultation process

that signals home satellite broadband spectrum should be

allocated, not auctioned, calling for it to start again.

Musk late on Monday reacted to the Reuters story, writing on

X that any decision to auction "would be unprecedented".

"This spectrum was long designated by the ITU as shared

spectrum for satellites," he said, referring to the

International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a U.N. agency for

digital technology.

India is a member of the ITU and signatory to its treaty

that regulates satellite spectrum and advocates that allocation

must be done "rationally, efficiently and economically" as it's

a "limited natural resource".

Sunil Mittal, co-chair of global satellite group Eutelsat,

which has partnered with India's telecom operator Bharti Airtel,

voiced support for the auction route on Tuesday.

"Satellite companies who have ambitions to come into urban

areas, serving elite retail customers, just need to take the

telecom licenses like everybody else ... they need to buy the

spectrum as telecom companies buy," Mittal, who is also the

chair of Airtel, said at a New Delhi event.

Earlier in 2023, both Eutelsat unit OneWeb and Airtel had

voiced concerns about auctioning the spectrum in their

submissions to the Indian government.

An Indian government source told Reuters on Sunday the

regulator was following due process of consultation.

Musk's Starlink and some global peers like Amazon's Project

Kuiper back an administrative allocation, saying spectrum is a

natural resource that should be shared by companies.