Reports from India say that the various permissions for direct-from-satellite broadband services are again awaiting action. India’s authoritative Financial Express (FE) says that the country’s department of telecommunications (DoT) is unlikely to issue any provisional or interim spectrum to companies such as Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio to commercially roll out their satellite internet services soon.
Instead, the government is expected to wait for the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) before it decides to allocate spectrum to the satellite firms administratively.
“The reference to Trai on defining the terms and conditions as well as pricing for the satellite spectrum has been sent. We will follow the complete process and are not considering any interim arrangement as of now,” an official was quoted by the FE.
This decision – or non-decision – suggests that commercial services are likely to be delayed until this winter, and perhaps even into 2025.
Bharti Enterprises, which has a financial stake in Eutelsat/One Web had been lobbying for government to provisionally allot spectrum to OneWeb, and on the understanding that other matters such as pricing and other aspects could be agreed later. Sunil Bharti Mittal is quoted as saying, “The terminals are in India, we are just waiting […] there is nothing we can do because we can’t light it up other than our test case, which has been approved. We can’t go commercial until we have the approvals. “In fact, we have given an undertaking to the DoT that you can even give us permission in the interim, and whatever the final decision is, we will comply with that […] It is a wait from the DoT now. We are fully ready,” he continued.
The FE added, “An interim arrangement would have given the companies an opportunity to start their services immediately and the same would have started revenue streams for them from the Indian market, an industry executive said. The Trai is yet to issue a consultation paper on the subject. In August, Trai chairman Anil Lahoti said it should take about a month to issue the consultation paper.”
Reliance Jio, which is working with SES on similar access to the India market, is also affected. India also has applications from Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper, each eager to enter the market.
From Advanced Television