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Musk's win on India satellite spectrum raises possibility of rate war with Ambani

Having simply lost a battle with Elon Musk over how India's satellite spectrum is granted, Asia's wealthiest guy Mukesh Ambani could deal with a bigger obstacle if Musk's Starlink launches services in India and the two go headtohead on rate.

India's government stated on Tuesday it will assign spectrum for satellite broadband administratively and not through auction, hours after Musk criticized the auction route being looked for by rival billionaire Ambani as extraordinary.

Musk's Starlink, a system of SpaceX which has 6,400 active satellites orbiting earth to offer low-latency broadband to 4 million customers, has publicly revealed interest in introducing in India, but its strategies faced duplicated regulative roadblocks.

Ambani, who runs India's biggest telecom company, Dependence Jio, had actually tried because last year to seek a well balanced competitive landscape and wanted to keep Musk at bay, as experts say a. spectrum auction would have required far more financial investment and. deterred foreign gamers.

Dependence, which has dominated India's telecom sector for. years, is now worried that after spending $19 billion in. airwave auctions it runs the risk of losing broadband customers to Musk,. and potentially even data and voice clients later as innovation. advances, a person with direct understanding stated on Thursday.

The Indian federal government states its choice to allocate spectrum. administratively to whoever requests it remains in line with. international trends.

It has not set a timeframe for when the process will start. but Musk's Starlink has currently gotten needed licenses. Starlink's entry into the Indian market would produce a brand-new. battlefield between the 2 billionaires: rates.

Musk has thousands of functional satellites, while. Dependence has actually partnered with Luxembourg-based SES Astra, which. non-profit CelesTrak states has 38 satellites that Reliance plans. to use.

Starlink can price aggressively since it doesn't need to. add more satellites, said Tim Farrar, a satellite market. expert at U.S.-based TMF Associates.

Ambani once gave information for free on his mobile plans, but Musk. is no complete stranger to such techniques which can agitate regional players.

In Kenya, Musk priced Starlink at $10 per month, versus $120. in United States, with rental plans available for greater. hardware expense. Kenya's Safaricom in July grumbled to. local regulators, calling for gamers like Starlink to be. needed to partner with mobile networks, and not operate. separately.

INDIA POTENTIAL

In India, a Reliance Jio fibre-based, high-speed broadband. plan costs $10 monthly, with router free on long-lasting plans. It has a 30% market share in the wired broadband market.

Starlink has plans to offer a limitless internet information strategy. in India at first and target business clients, stated a 2nd. industry source knowledgeable about the matter.

Reliance and Starlink did not react to Reuters questions.

With 42 million wired broadband internet users and 904. million telecom users on networks like 4G and 5G, India is the. world's second-biggest telecom market after China.

Web penetration in India stood at 52.4% as of early. 2024, according to DataReportal and there are still 25,000. towns without web. And even in cities, lots of locations. don't have fibre-based quick web offerings.

Musk stated in 2015 Starlink can be exceptionally valuable in. remote Indian villages or locations that lack high-speed services,. and his former India head in 2022 said Starlink at the time. targeted 200,000 consumers within 8 months of launch.

Starlink has likewise announced strategies to introduce globally a. constellation of numerous satellites to make it possible for direct to. cell voice and data services in coming years.

Gareth Owen, associate director at research study firm. Counterpoint, however, said some of the worries about Musk might. be overstated, as terrestrial networks will always be less. costly (and) businesses will never switch completely to. satellite.

For now, even before the genuine battle starts on the ground,. the Musk-Ambani rivalry is increasingly on display screen.

A Reuters report this week that Ambani was once again lobbying. New Delhi to auction satellite spectrum for a level playing. field caught Musk's attention, after a social networks user asked. if Ambani was frightened of Musk interfering with the Indian billionaire's. telecom empire.

I will call

(source: Reuters)