The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday initiated the consultation process for finalising the methodology and pricing for allocating spectrum for satellite-based communications.

This will pave the way for satellite-based broadband services from companies such as Elon Musk-owned Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, and Jio Satellite Communications (which has a partnership with SES, a Luxembourg-based satellite operator), across India.

The consultation process comes even as the industry is sharply divided over allocation and use of spectrum. While the traditional telecom operators including Reliance Jio have called for an auction mechanism to determine pricing, satellite players have pushed for administrative allocation.

Fee Structures

The TRAI paper has cited examples from other countries where satellite spectrum has been assigned through an administrative mechanism, with spectrum charges levied in the form of an administratively determined fee. For instance, in Singapore, satellite players pay between $400-$700 per Mhz per annum. In Canada, fixed earth stations, transportable earth stations, and earth stations in motion are levied with a spectrum fee of $5.22 per MHz assigned spectrum.

The consultation paper titled ‘Terms and Conditions for the Assignment of Spectrum for Certain Satellite-Based Commercial Communication Services’ has sought suggestions including whether spectrum charges for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO)-based satellite services (FSS) such as television and radio broadcasting, telephony, and data transmission should be levied on a per MHz basis or a percentage of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) basis or through some other methodology.

While the government has decided to allocate spectrum for most of the satellite services without auction through the administrative process, under the Telecommunications Act 2023, TRAI in the consultation process, has invited views on alternate ways of assigning radio waves to the satellite companies.

TRAI has raised 21 issues for comments, including a method for determining spectrum charges, frequency bands for the satellite communications services, duration of assignment, and provision for surrendering spectrum. It has fixed October 18 for comments and October 25 for counter comments on the paper.

The TRAI consultation paper comes after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sought a recommendation on terms and conditions of spectrum assignment, including spectrum pricing. The DoT had asked TRAI to consider a level playing field with telecom operators for satellite-based communication services provided by NGSO.

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