Satellite communications players including Starlink and Project Kuiper said Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that Indian mobile operators create a false equivalence between terrestrial wireless service providers and satellite operators when it comes to the price spectrum.

“Suggestions that spectrum rates should be compared to a market-discovered price for spectrum for terrestrial wireless networks are based on a false equivalence between terrestrial wireless providers and satellite operators.”

“Arguments that an AGR-based charging mechanism would incentivize inefficient service rollout fail to consider that spectrum scarcity is unlikely because satellite operators share the spectrum they use to provide services. Spectrum sharing negates the potential opportunity cost of underutilized spectrum,” Amazon, which operates Project Kuiper, said in a note countering claims made by Reliance Jio.

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Reliance Jiowhich is pushing for spectrum auctions, said arguments that satellite frequencies are always assigned on a shared and non-exclusive basis are both factually and technically incorrect and should be ignored.

“A lack of a level playing field in spectrum allocations between satellite and terrestrial access services would violate the principle of ‘same service, same rule’ which favors market imbalances, hinders investment, impacts the national economy, reduces innovation and could lead to legal challenges.” Jio said.

Starlink said that pricing access to critical spectrum resources beyond this will have absolutely no impact on the efficient use of satellite spectrum, but will have a very real negative impact on satellite broadband affordability.

“Underserved users should not be penalized for finally having affordable satellite broadband connectivity. SpaceX and Starlink India reiterate that Indian users seeking access to next-generation, affordable satellite broadband will do so because their current options are too expensive, too unreliable or non-existent.”

“Comments urging TRAI to impose excessive costs for accessing satellite spectrum are transparently intended to drive up prices for these users and thereby ensure that their choices remain too expensive, too unreliable or non-existent,” Starlink said.

“Unfortunately, some comments try to mischaracterize the ability of next-generation satellite systems to provide users with high-quality service as a bad thing for those users. Because this is a very difficult position to justify, these comments instead resort to misinformation about Starlink and other similar systems,” the Elon Musk-backed company said.

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