Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani arrives at the National Mall ahead of the cremation of Indian industrialist Ratan Tata in Mumbai on October 10, 2024 Theater (NCPA) to pay its last respects.
Punit Paranjpepunit Paranjpe | Punit Paranjpepunit Paranjpe | AFP | Getty Images
just lost a battle Musk How is satellite spectrum in India? granted, Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani This may face greater challenges if Musk’s Starlink launches services in India and the two go head-to-head on price.
The Indian government said on Tuesday it would allocate spectrum for satellite broadband administratively rather than through auctions.
Musk’s Starlink, a unit of SpaceX that has 6,400 satellites orbiting the Earth and provides low-latency broadband to 4 million customers, has publicly expressed interest. Launched in Indiabut its plans have repeatedly faced regulatory hurdles.
Ambani runs India’s largest telecom company Reliance Jio and has been trying to find a “balanced competitive landscape” and wanted To stop Musk, experts say the spectrum auction will require more investment and block foreign players.
Reliance, which has dominated India’s telecoms industry for years, is now worried it could be at risk of losing broadband customers to Musk after spending $19 billion on an auction of airwaves, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday. progress and may even lose data and voice customers later.
The Indian government said its decision to allocate spectrum to applicants through administrative means is in line with global trends.
It has not yet set a timetable for when the process will begin, but Musk’s Starlink has already applied for the necessary permits. Starlink’s entry into the Indian market will create a new battleground between the two billionaires: pricing.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks at the Milken Conference 2024 Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States on May 6, 2024.
David Swanson | Reuters
Musk has thousands of operational satellites, while Reliance has partnered with Luxembourg-based SES Astra, and nonprofit CelesTrak said Reliance plans to use the company’s 38 satellites.
Tim Farrar, satellite industry analyst at TMF Associates in the United States, said: “Starlink can be priced significantly because it does not require adding more satellites.”
Ambani once offered free data on his mobile plans, but Musk is no stranger to such tactics that could unsettle local players.
Musk has priced Starlink at $10 per month in Kenya, compared with $120 per month in the United States, with leasing plans available to cover higher hardware costs. Kenya Safaricom launched in July local regulatory agencycalling on players like Starlink to cooperate with mobile networks instead of operating independently.
India’s potential
In India, Reliance Jio’s fiber-based high-speed broadband plans cost $10 per month, and long-term plans come with a free router. It has a 30% market share in the cable broadband market.
Another industry source familiar with the matter said Starlink plans to offer unlimited data plans in India first and target enterprise customers.
Reliance and Starlink did not respond to Reuters queries.
With 42 million wired broadband network users and 904 million 4G and 5G network telecom users, India is the world’s second largest telecom market after China.
According to DataReportal, as of early 2024, India’s Internet penetration rate was 52.4%, and there were still 25,000 villages without Internet access. Even within cities, many areas do not have fast fiber-based internet service.
Musk said last year that Starlink would be “very helpful” in remote villages in India or places lacking high-speed service, and his former head of India in 2022 said Starlink was aiming to reach 200,000 customers within eight months of launch. .
In this photo illustration, the Starlink system is shown in Chicago, Illinois on September 13, 2024.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
Starlink also announced plans to launch a constellation of hundreds of satellites around the world to enable “direct-to-cell” voice and data services in the next few years.
However, Gareth Owen, associate director at research firm Counterpoint, said some concerns about Musk may be exaggerated because “terrestrial networks will always be cheaper and companies will never fully switch to satellites.”
Now, even before the real battle begins, the competition between Musk and Ambani is becoming increasingly apparent.
Reuters reported this week that Ambani Lobby again New Delhi’s auction of satellite spectrum to achieve a “level playing field” caught Musk’s attention after a social media user asked Ambani if he feared Musk disrupting the Indian billionaire’s telecoms empire.
“I will call (Ambani) and ask if it would be too much trouble to let Starlink compete to provide Internet services to the people of India,” Musk joked in response in a post on X.
