Starlink, Project Kuiper accuse Indian telcos of false spectrum pricing equivalence

Satellite communication players including Starlink and Project Kuiper have told the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that Indian mobile operators are creating a false equivalence between terrestrial wireless service providers and satellite operators when it comes to pricing spectrum.

“Suggestions that spectrum charges should be benchmarked to a market discovered price for spectrum for terrestrial wireless networks are based on a false equivalence between terrestrial wireless service providers and satellite operators.”

“Arguments that an AGR-based charging mechanism would incentivise inefficient roll-out of services do not consider that spectrum scarcity is unlikely, since satellite operators share the spectrum they use to provide services. Sharing spectrum negates potential opportunity cost of underutilized spectrum,” Amazon, which operates Project Kuiper, said in a note countering claims made by Reliance Jio.

Reliance Jio, which is pushing for auctioning spectrum, said that arguments that satellite frequencies are always assigned in a shared mode and on a non-exclusive basis are both factually and technically incorrect and should be ignored.

“A lack of a level playing field in spectrum assignments between satellite and terrestrial access services would violate the “same service, same rule” principle fostering market imbalances, hinder investments, impact national economy, reduce innovation, and potentially lead to legal challenges,” Jio said.

Starlink said that pricing access to critical spectrum resources beyond this will have absolutely no impact on the efficient use of satellite spectrum, but will have a very real negative impact on the affordability of satellite broadband.

“Underserved users should not be punished for finally having connectivity via affordable satellite broadband. SpaceX and Starlink India reiterate that Indian users who seek access to affordable next-generation satellite broadband will do so because their current options are too expensive, too unreliable, or non-existent.”

“Comments that urge the TRAI to impose excessive costs for accessing satellite spectrum transparently seek to increase the prices for these users, and thus ensure that their choices remain too expensive, too unreliable, or non-existent,” Starlink said.

“Unfortunately, some comments attempt to mischaracterise the ability of next-generation satellite systems to provide high-quality services to users as a bad thing for those very users. Because this is a very difficult position to justify, these comments instead resort to misinformation about Starlink and other similar system,” the Elon Musk-backed company said. The Hindu BusinessLine