Jio seeks Minister's intervention for fair spectrum rules in satellite communications

Jio seeks intervention: Telecom giant Reliance Jio has made an appeal to Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, seeking the latter's intervention in ensuring Trai revises its consultation paper suggesting new rules for spectrum allocation. According to Jio, it wants an even playing field between terrestrial and satellite communication providers.

In a letter dated October 10, Jio has referred to the judgement of the Supreme Court in the 2G case and said that Trai's approach could expose the consultation exercise to legal scrutiny. “The failure to incorporate questions on the level-playing field may expose the consultation exercise to legal scrutiny, the letter stated.”

This petition comes after Trai rejected Jio's plea earlier this week to discuss the comparative market position of satellite service providers vis-à-vis terrestrial network operators. On September 27, 2024, Trai had launched a consultation paper to finalise pricing and methodologies of spectrum allotment to satellite operators.

The letter from Jio cited the interest demonstrated by companies such as Elon Musk 's Starlink, Amazon's Kuiper, and Bharti Group-backed OneWeb in entering the Indian market. "A fair and transparent auction system for satellite services is essential to ensure competitive parity with land-based mobile networks," it emphasised.

On this issue, Jio said that as DoT had referred to Trai to address the issue of levelling the playing field, the consultation paper of Trai appears to have avoided the most important issue. "It appears that Trai has anticipatorily closed the matter without seeking inputs from the various stakeholders," said Jio.

The letter further criticised the consultation paper for not identifying central questions on competition, arguing "such an omission may lead to a report that loses sight of the essential 'playing field' question."
Neither DoT nor Trai has made any in-depth analysis of the economic viability of spectrum auctions. There was no elaborate study regarding the technological evolution and market demands," said Jio while referring to the government's decision, through the Telecommunications Act 2023, to allot spectrum without auction for the mentioned satellite services.

The company maintained that preference for satellite services, under the garb of support to new emerging technologies, must be sternly rejected. "Spectrum Assignment policies need to be aligned with established legal mandates, including the Supreme Court directive regarding a fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory approach, " concluded Jio.

The company emphasised the need to have a proper regulatory environment where healthy competition could flourish between fixed satellite services, on one hand, with fixed wireless access as well as between mobile satellite services and other terrestrial mobile options.