India does not allow monopoly in any sector: Reports
New Delhi: Amid a raging row over satellite communications (satcom) and allegations by billionaire Elon Musk, Union communication minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday asserted that India does not allow monopoly in any sector. The minister also said that despite the buzz around one “particular” company, the fact is three players have received satcom licences and can start operations after individually meeting security requirements and milestones.
The minister’s comments came after Musk allegations that his Starlink’s satcom services are being blocked by certain “oligarchs” who want to maintain their monopolistic chokehold on the Indian people. “Let me set the record straight. For us, the department of telecommunications (DoT), we are technology agnostic. Our job is to be able to provide the bouquet of services to every single customer,” the minister said at a briefing at India Mobile Congress here.
The minister also said that as far as satcom is concerned, there is not a single licensee that has been chosen. “Licenses have been given to everyone who wants to provide these services. It is for the customer to choose in a free market which service he or she prefers, and within that service bouquet, which company's service he or she prefers,” Scindia said.
Scindia further said that three entities, Musk’s Starlink, Reliance Jio’s satellite venture Jio Satcom and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, have already secured licences, while Amazon's Kuiper has expressed interest and will need to undergo the established procedure. “While there is a lot of conversation about one particular company, three have got satcom licences,” he said.
The minister also revealed that there is another party who is also interested in procuring a license — and that process has to be followed by that party, which is Amazon Project Kuiper. Now, three parties have already got a license. Once the revenue charges system is finalised, and once each one of these parties — party A, B, and C— all three individually based on their achievement or milestones with regard to security concerns and prerequisites have fulfilled the requirements, then obviously they can start operations. But that has to be a compliance that is done by each one of them individually,” he said.
The minister also said that telecom watchdog Trai and the telecom department are close to a final decision on pricing regime for satcom spectrum. Hitting out at Congress, in the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi and Elon Musk’s exchange on X, he said, “As far as the Congress party is concerned, I don't think they themselves know whether they're going left or right. Congress initially had a problem with a “certain person” getting a licence and pointed out now they have a problem, and they've allied with that person in terms of why he's not getting a license.”
