Jio Urges Revisions to Satellite Spectrum Allocation Consultation Paper

Reliance Jio has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to relook at its consultation paper on spectrum allocation for satellite communication stating that the paper does not take into account a key issue of ensuring a level playing field between satellite and terrestrial services.

All About the Jio and TRAI

Reliance Jio has written a letter to Trai Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti, asking for a relook at the paper that contains suggested conditions for the assignment of spectrum relating to particular satellite-based commercial communication services.

“We are surprised that the consultation paper has completely overlooked the critical issue of ensuring a level playing field between satellite-based and terrestrial access services. This omission has led to a lack of questions that address the need to create equitable conditions between these services,” Reliance Jio stated in its letter dated October 4.

Jio underscored that this exclusion will make it impossible for stakeholders to give Trai meaningful feedback and frustrate the principles of non-discrimination on which the government’s objective of encouraging balanced competition rests.

Trai had, on September 27, 2024, started the consultation process to see how spectrum can be given to satellite companies in India for calling and messaging services the other uses like broadband, etc. The result of the exercise on spectrum pricing and allocation would pave the way for these companies to provide satellite-based broadband services across India including Elon Musk’s Starlink, Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, and Jio Satellite Communications.

The consultation paper has failed to address wresting competitive fairness properly, Jio said adding the consultation papers were not consistent with the DoT reference of July 11, 2024. This misalignment could make the consultation paper and subsequent recommendations vulnerable to legal challenges.

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Both Jio and Vodafone Idea had opposed the allocation of spectrum to satellite companies without an auction process as sought by them in response to Trai’s consultation. Jio further stated that the paper is biased in favor of spectrum assignment using administrative methods, departing from the established principles under the Telecommunications Act of 2023, where auctioning has been defined as the default mode for the allocation of spectrum for commercial services.

“We respectfully urge Trai to reconsider and revise the consultation paper, incorporating specific questions that address the level playing field issues between satellite and terrestrial networks. Both auction and administrative assignment methods should be available for stakeholder input, with competitive fairness duly considered,” Jio stated.

Trai has invited comments on 21 points, including methods for determining spectrum charges, frequency bands for satellite communications, assignment duration, and provisions for surrendering spectrum. The deadline for comments is October 18, with counter comments due by October 25.

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