Sources told TOI that the draft of telecommunication bill proposes that space spectrum should not pass
through the process of auction, and should rather be allotted administratively
as given to government agencies, state-owned BSNL and MTNL, and certain other
classified entities.
The bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament
soon. Giving the list of ‘certain satellite-based services’ where spectrum be
allotted administratively, the bill lists them out as, “teleports, television
channels, Direct-To-Home, Headend In The Sky, Digital Satellite News Gathering,
Very Small Aperture Terminal, Global Mobile Personal Communication by
Satellites, National Long Distance, International Long Distance, Mobile
Satellite Service in L & S bands.”
In its submission to Trai, Jio has opposed
administrative allocation, and claims that it will give ‘unfair advantage’ to
satellite companies. Jio said an auction “guarantees a level-playing field, and
a fair and equitable environment for space-based and terrestrial service
providers, fostering healthy competition and contributing significantly to
national growth…”
However, those seeking administrative allocation
have a different argument. Airtel argued that “auctioning the satellite
spectrum and creating an exclusiveness will create barriers for competition as
competitors may block access to it by bidding and winning partial or full
spectrum in spite of having no such global allocation, and make satellite
systems redundant”.
Musk’s SpaceX also pitched for “well-designed
administrative” approach. “SpaceX cautions… against an exclusionary
auction-based assignment mechanism that ignores the technical requirements of
these systems in favour of a fractured or exclusionary method that restricts
both the deployment of service as well as potential for positive competition
and consumer choice.”
British satellite company Inmarsat, owned by US company Viasat, said satellite spectrum-orbital resources are a “globally shared public good” and added that “there is no precedent” of spectrum auctions for satellite.
Amazon also pointed out “inappropriateness of
spectrum auctions for satellite-based communications” and said it would have
“multiple and specific negative impacts” that should be avoided. “Auctioning
spectrum for satellite services would impose an artificial restriction on the
effective sharing mechanism that is the norm in satellite industry… an auction
would unequivocally result in a fragmentation of available spectrum and limit
the number of operators that could potentially access the same spectrum and
offer much-needed connectivity.”
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