Billionaire Showdown: India Decides Against Auctioning Satellite Spectrum After Musk’s Critique of Ambani

On Tuesday, India announced that it will allocate satellite spectrum for broadband services directly, without an auction, just hours after Elon Musk criticized rival billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s push for an auction, calling it “unprecedented.”

The decision comes amid a heated competition between billionaires, with the satellite broadband market in India expected to grow by 36% annually, reaching $1.9 billion by 2030. Musk’s company, Starlink, supports direct allocation of licenses, claiming it’s in line with global practices. In contrast, Ambani’s Reliance argues that an auction is necessary to ensure fairness and clarity in providing satellite broadband services under Indian law.

Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced at a New Delhi event that the spectrum will be allocated according to Indian regulations, with pricing determined by the telecom watchdog. He stated, “If you decide to auction it, you will be doing something different from the rest of the world.”

Musk welcomed the government’s decision, expressing on social media platform X that Starlink aims to serve the Indian population effectively.

Earlier in the week, it was reported that Reliance had questioned the Indian telecom regulator’s decision to allocate satellite broadband spectrum without an auction, calling for the process to restart.

Musk noted that the spectrum has been recognized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as shared spectrum for satellites, emphasizing that any auction would be unusual.

Sunil Mittal, co-chair of global satellite group Eutelsat and chairman of telecom operator Bharti Airtel, supported the auction approach, arguing that satellite companies should acquire telecom licenses like other operators.

Earlier in 2023, both Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Airtel expressed concerns about auctioning spectrum to the Indian government. Musk’s Starlink, along with other global players like Amazon’s Project Kuiper, advocates for administrative allocation, arguing that spectrum is a natural resource that should be shared among companies.