Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has urged India’s telecom regulator to carefully assess the potential impact of Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper before allocating satellite spectrum. According to a Reuters report, Reliance expressed concerns that foreign players could harm local telecom operators.
A letter highlights Ambani's ongoing battle with Musk over how satellite spectrum should be allocated in India. While Reliance supports auctions, which involve significant investments, India has leaned toward Musk’s preferred method of administrative allocation, following global trends, according to the report.
Reliance noted in its letter that it carries 15 billion gigabytes of data monthly after investing $23 billion in spectrum auctions. In contrast, Starlink plans to target similar customers with a potential capacity of 18 billion gigabytes via satellites at a significantly lower cost.
Experts say auctions could deter foreign competitors due to high initial investments, giving Reliance an edge. “The authority should critically examine the capacities created by these mega constellations such as Starlink and Kuiper,” Reliance wrote in its letter dated November 15, according to the report.
India’s telecom regulator is reviewing feedback and plans to make final recommendations by year-end. Meanwhile, Starlink is seeking security clearance to launch satellite broadband services in India. If approved, it could compete directly with Ambani’s Reliance Jio, which serves 479 million users as India’s top telecom provider.
Musk’s Starlink, a SpaceX unit with 6,400 active satellites, has already disrupted markets globally. In Kenya, for instance, Starlink is priced at $10 per month, significantly lower than its $120 price tag in the US, causing local operators to struggle.
