Having just lost a battle with Elon Musk over how India's satellite spectrum is awarded, Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani could face a bigger challenge if Musk's Starlink launches services in India and the two go head-to-head on price.
India's government said on Tuesday it will allocate spectrum for satellite broadband administratively and not via auction, hours after Musk criticized the auction route being sought by rival billionaire Ambani as "unprecedented".
Musk's Starlink, a unit of SpaceX which has 6,400 active satellites orbiting earth to provide low-latency broadband to 4 million customers, has publicly expressed interest in launching in India, but its plans faced repeated regulatory roadblocks.
Ambani, who runs India's biggest telecom company, Reliance Jio, had tried since last year to seek a "balanced competitive landscape" and wanted to keep Musk at bay, as experts say a spectrum auction would have required much more investment and deterred foreign players.
Reliance, which has dominated India's telecom sector for years, is now concerned that after spending $19 billion in airwave auctions it risks losing broadband customers to Musk, and potentially even data and voice clients later as technology advances, a person with direct knowledge said on Thursday.
The Indian government says its decision to allocate spectrum administratively to whoever applies for it is in line with global trends.
It has not set a timeframe for when the process will start but Musk's Starlink has already applied for necessary permits. Starlink's entry into the Indian market would create a new battleground between the two billionaires: pricing.
Musk has thousands of operational satellites, while Reliance has partnered with Luxembourg-based SES Astra, which non-profit CelesTrak says has 38 satellites that Reliance plans to use.
"Starlink can price aggressively because it doesn't need to add more satellites," said Tim Farrar, a satellite industry analyst at U.S.-based TMF Associates.
Ambani once gave data for free on his mobile plans, but Musk is no stranger to such tactics which can unsettle local players.
In Kenya, Musk priced Starlink at $10 per month, versus $120 in United States, with rental plans available for higher hardware cost. Kenya's Safaricom in July complained to local regulators, calling for players like Starlink to be required to partner with mobile networks, and not operate independently.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/musks-win-india-satellite-spectrum-124344294.html
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