TRAI Satcom Consultation Sparks Level Playing Field Debate

Bharti Airtel stated that TRAI should consider the issue of ensuring level playing field between terrestrial and satellite communication services while making recommendations on the terms and conditions of Satcom authorization. “Satcom services have been there for more than 2-3 years. But now with advancement in technology, these services are increasingly becoming substitutable for terrestrial services due to higher capacities and better latencies,” Airtel’s Chief Regulatory Officer Rahul Vatts said during TRAI’s open house discussion on Satcom authorization .

Vatts noted that some satcom operators today are positioning themselves as a viable alternative to traditional satcom service providers. This is especially true in urban and suburban areas, he added, where competition between telecom companies is already fierce. He explained that while it was important to promote the satcom market, “it is equally important to protect the significant investments made by terrestrial operators amounting to millions of rupees over the last three decades.”

Growing concern about level playing field:

in it surrender TRAI and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) have addressed this concern through spectrum pricing through a pricing model (adjusted gross revenue or
MHz based charges etc.). Airtel also adds that the regulator should price “traditional use cases of satellite services for the traditional market”, such as satcom services for rural and remote areas, and government agencies, including defense, disaster recovery, cellular backup in rural areas. and remote areas differently. He suggests that TRAI may waive spectrum charges for such services. Especially Airtel’s satcom partner OneWeb It is reported that it is planned earlier this year to showcase satcom’s traditional use cases.

Airtel is not the only company to raise concerns about the level playing field; other telecommunications companies Vodafone Idea Owned by Reliance Jio also discussed We say this in our presentations to TRAI. Adding to Vatt’s view on traditional services, Ravi Gandhi, President and Chief of Public Policy and Retail Regulation at Reliance, noted that user terminals for such services were not affordable before; The fact that their capacities are very low compared to terrestrial services caused these services to have high tariffs. Therefore, they did not compete with terrestrial services. “High costs have limited these services to areas where cost is not a primary concern, such as CUG (closed user group), VPN, defense,” explained Gandhi.

Different pricing according to preferred market:

Addressing Airtel’s view on different spectrum pricing for different uses, Parnil Urdhwareshe, representing Starlink, backtracked, saying Starlink does not differentiate between unconnected businesses and individuals.

“The individual satellite operator’s choice as to which category of users they want to serve or which market they want to appeal to is simply a preference. As long as they use the spectrum in the same common way. “We think the level playing field should be one that ensures the same pricing rules for all satellite operators,” he said.

“So I really don’t know what such a passionate, emotional outburst is for?” Addressing Urdhwareshe and others opposing the demand for different pricing of spectrum, Airtel’s Vatts said: He clarified that Airtel only wanted a level playing field.

Is it weird to ask for lower spectrum fees for satcom?

Starlink in its presentation to TRAI recommended It said the regulator should keep spectrum usage charges for satcom services at 1% of the company’s Adjusted Gross Income. The company argues that this lower fee will allow satcom players to offer affordable services to underserved areas. Referring to this, Reliance Retail’s Gandhi said such a demand was ‘strange’.

“This sounds like a very, very strange argument that we will be competing in the same space with the same consumers and using similar spectrum because we will be providing in the same market, but we will be paying, not paying for anything that we want for free. We will pay only half a percent or 1% of the SUC across the cost spectrum, but other parties competing with me will pay a huge amount of lakhs of crores,” Gandhi argued.

Urdhwareshe touched on this topic and explained that he doesn’t think it’s weird to let users decide whether they want a service or not. “Terrestrial operators have long been stating absolute and complete coverage in India. “GSMA has made various statements on this issue, but we have to take their word for it,” he said. The Starlink representative added that if traditional telcos serve Indian users well, the revenues of satcom players will also show this.

“Some operators prefer to use just SpaceX when talking about assignment methodology for the entire industry. But once again what we are suggesting is a common rule for the entire industry, and if the naysayers of this approach are right then you won’t see any of the other satellites generating revenue. Urdhwareshe emphasized that the best determinant of whether access to spectrum will be priced differently is whether the technology used actually uses the spectrum differently.

Satcom is not users’ first choice:

Based on Starlink’s experience in the 113 countries it serves, Urdhwareshe said people tend to come to satcom only when they have no other option. This may be because they cannot access terrestrial services due to restrictions such as a lack of reliable or affordable connectivity.

“The false distinction between lack of connectivity and ‘traditional use cases’ fundamentally runs counter to the goals of universal access,” Urdhwareshe explained. Therefore, Starlink said it encourages satcom service providers to serve all users across India who need their services, rather than trying to create divisions based on their preferred markets.

What happens to fixed wireless access due to administrative allocation?

During the panel discussion, Gandhi raised the fact that the Telecommunications Act, 2023 allows administrative allocation for “certain satellite services”. “What are these specific services? This is not defined. Defined in reverse via license. “Services offered under the VSAT license,” he explained. When the government published the Telecommunications Act in 2023, the existing VSAT license allowed companies to provide VPN (virtual private network) and closed user group (CUG) services (which allows the operator to provide data services to a small group). Gandhi argued that the regulator could consider these services and Global Mobile Personal Communications Services (GMPCS) under the administrative allocation umbrella.

“But what we are discussing here is beyond that; it is not even included in entry 16 of schedule I (of the Telecom Act, which deals with administrative allocation for certain telecom services),” Gandhi said. He explained that the Satcom discussion is also about fixed wireless access services (FWA), which is the 5G use case that provides wireless broadband connectivity to consumers. Newer satellite services, nongeographic geostationary orbits (NGSO) satellite systems, FSS services are provided today, Gandhi said. He added that by including FWA under the pre-existing VSAT licence, the regulator would always amend Schedule I of the Telecommunications Act and open the service for administrative allocation.

Responding to Gandhi’s comments, Starlink’s Urdhwareshe noted that the question to ask when deciding which services should be subject to administrative allocation depends on whether that service allows non-exclusive spectrum use (different companies sharing spectrum rather than one company renting a spectrum). from the government at certain frequency). “Mobile services, including FWA, cannot share and therefore access to spectrum must be determined in a specific way. TRAI is an expert in this field. “We are not,” he said.

The startup dilemma:

During the panel discussion, Gandhi talked about newer satellite services (nongeographic geostationary orbits), enterprise anxiety is increasing. (You can read a breakdown of key startup concerns Here) Directing these concerns specifically to Starlink, Gandhi said that, according to publicly available information, Starlink currently has approximately 35,000 satellites in space. “If we come down to India’s share, there will always be around 500 to 600 satellites over India,” he said. He added that with more satcom players, the number of satellites and gateway stations (which transmit data to the satellites) over India will increase. These gateways use the same spectrum that terrestrial networks currently use.

Urdhwareshe addressed this concern, saying Starlink had not seen any confirmed cases of interference. “I worry about where Mr. Gandhi gets his numbers from Starlink,” he said, explaining that India accounts for just 0.6% of the world’s surface area, an important consideration in determining NGSO capacity in any region. “His view is akin to saying that most of Jio Bharti and Vodafone’s hundreds of thousands of mobile towers are located in an area the size of Nagaland,” the Starlink representative added.

“Importantly, all operators working with satellites are incentivized and are spending significant engineering efforts to ensure sharing (spectrum) capabilities,” he explained. Agreeing with Urdhwareshe, OneWeb Vice President of Market Access Tony Azzarelli explained that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) does not believe spectrum sharing among satcom players is impossible.

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