*

Musk fights Ambani over India satellite spectrum

assignment

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Musk says any move by India to auction spectrum

'unprecedented'

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India says it is backing administrative allocation of

spectrum

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Ambani has been lobbying Indian government for auction

route

(Adds Musk's comment in paragraph 6)

By Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil

NEW DELHI, Oct 15 (Reuters) - India's government on

Tuesday said it will allot spectrum for satellite broadband

administratively and not via auction, hours after Elon Musk

criticized the auction route being sought by rival billionaire

Mukesh Ambani as "unprecedented".

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 to ensure a

level playing field and as there are no provisions in Indian law

on how individuals can be provided satellite broadband services.

Telecoms Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said during a New

Delhi event that the spectrum will be allocated administratively

in line with Indian laws, and its pricing worked out by the

telecom watchdog.

"If you do decide to auction it, then you will be doing

something which is different from the rest of the world," he

said.

Musk was appreciative of the government's decision, and said

on social media platform X, "We will do our best to serve the

people of India with Starlink".

On Sunday, Reuters was first to report that Reliance had

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.

The minister's comment will come as a shot in the arm for

Musk, who following the Reuters story, wrote on X late on Monday

that any decision to auction "would be unprecedented".

"This spectrum was long designated by the ITU as shared

spectrum for satellites," Musk said, referring to the

International Telecommunication Union, 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 is

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 the 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.

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.