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Reliance asked India to allocate spectrum via auction

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India decided to allocate spectrum, as wanted by Musk

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Reliance warns that could give others unfair advantage

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Musk India entry could spark price war with Reliance

By Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Billionaire Mukesh

Ambani's Reliance has asked India's telecom regulator to review

the potential reach of Elon Musk's Starlink and Amazon's ( AMZN ) Kuiper

before awarding satellite spectrum amid concerns local players

could suffer, a letter showed on Friday.

Reliance's letter, which is not public, is Ambani's

last-ditch effort in an ongoing face-off with Musk over how

India should grant spectrum for satellite services. While

Reliance has called for an auction, India has sided with Musk

who - in line with global trends - wanted an administrative

allocation.

In the letter, reviewed by Reuters, Reliance said it carried

about 15 billion gigabyte of data every month in India after

spending about $23 billion on spectrum auctions over the years,

but Starlink would target the same customers with a potential

capacity of nearly 18 billion gigabyte of data via its

satellites with a likely much lower outlay.

Experts say auctions tend to mean higher initial investments

which could have deterred foreign players in favour of Reliance.

"The authority should critically examine the capacities

created by these mega ... constellations such as Starlink and

Kuiper," the letter dated Nov. 15 said.

A senior government source at the telecom regulator said all

feedback being received would be reviewed before making final

recommendations, tentatively before the year end.

Starlink, Amazon ( AMZN ) and Reliance did not respond.

Starlink is seeking security clearance for a licence to

offer satellite broadband services in India and will get a

permit if it satisfies all conditions, the telecom minister said

this week.

Ambani once gave data for free on his mobile plans, and Musk

has adopted similarly aggressive tactics. In Kenya, Musk priced

Starlink at $10 per month, versus $120 in the United States,

unsettling local telecom players.

Ambani, Asia's richest man, has more than 479 million Indian

telecom users, making Reliance Jio the No. 1 player. Musk's

Starlink, a unit of SpaceX, has 6,400 active satellites orbiting

Earth providing low-latency broadband to four million customers.