'Promising': Elon Musk on India’s plan to avoid auctioning satellite spectrum

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has welcomed India's decision to allocate rather than auction satellite broadband spectrum.

“Every country has to follow the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which is the organization that lays out the policy for spectrum in space or satellites, and the ITU has been very clear in terms of the spectrum being given out on an assignment basis. In addition, if you look across the world today, I cannot think of a single country that auctions spectrum for satellite,” Scindia said.

Musk, whose Starlink is actively exploring ways to bring satellite internet to India, responded with a simple but telling reaction on X: “Promising.”

The decision could be a blow to Indian telecom giants like Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio and Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel, which had called for an auction-based approach.

Reliance Jio recently wrote a letter to the telecom ministry, asking for a fair auction system for satellite spectrum to ensure a level playing field between new satellite providers and existing telecom companies.

Musk had termed the demand "unprecedented", saying the spectrum was “long designated by the ITU as shared spectrum for satellites.”

Mittal, at an industry event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also pressed the issue, saying, “Satellite companies who have ambitions to come to urban areas, serving elite, retail customers, just need to take the telecom licenses like everybody else… and secure networks like telcos do.”

While Starlink has applied for a licence to start operations in India, Scindia offered no clues on its fate.

The minister said that the regulatory process is very clear and transparent. "We are open to looking at the application of any entity that wants to invest in India at this point in time. I think only one or two licenses have been given out. And whoever else wants to participate, India is surely going to welcome that," the minister said.