Indian telecom laws are being rewritten to benefit Starlink

Elon Musk said in June that he expect Bringing Starlink to India. Now, he may well be able to do so thanks to a bill passed by the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) on December 20 and the Rajya Sabha (upper house) on December 21.

Under new telecom legislation, India will allow allocation of spectrum for satellite services without participating in auctions. Instead, players will go through an administrative process.

this action Will reportedly benefit from Lobbying by companies like Starlink and rivals like OneWeb and Amazon Kuiper Against the auction routethink auction Increase costs and delay investments. In short, their position is that auctions make low-cost options more expensive.

Starlink, satellites provide network connectionsMore than 40 countriesFor several years now, there has been a focus on the most populous country in the world.It’s even started taking pre-orders for its devices October 2021.But a month later, the Indian telecom department stated that Starlink no license In this country, registration is stopped.

Musk may cheer new bill Replacing two nearly century-old billsThe Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, and the Wireless Telegraph Act, 1933, met with some strong opposition at home. Activists believe this gives Modi’s government unprecedented powers to control telecom services and networks, including monitoring traffic data and intercepting communications in the name of national security interests.

Related companies: Reliance Jio

India’s richest man has been feuding with the world’s richest man over satellite broadband.

While global corporate heavyweights rallied against the auction system, Mukesh Ambanis’ telecom arm Reliance Jio Support auction.The company said the auction system will remain in place level playing field As foreign satellite service providers provide voice and data services, directly challenging traditional telecommunications companies, foreign companies will face challenges without these services runaway successjust like Amazon in the Indian e-commerce market.

Jio was particularly keen to avoid competition after its launch Own JioSpaceFibre exist late October.

Indian satellite internet by the numbers

140+: Opposition lawmakers faced suspension when the bill passed.

5,000: As of January 2022, Musk’s Starlink had received pre-orders for its devices, but the company had to issue refunds due to difficulties in obtaining regulatory approval.

200,000:According to a briefing shared on LinkedIn by Starlinks’ then India head Sanjay Bhargava, the company hopes to launch Starlink terminals for India by the end of 2022, with commercial rollout expected to begin in April 2022

2: Company with Global Mobile Personal Satellite Communications (GMPCS) license issued by the telecom department backed by Jio and Bharti Airtel a netwhich Merger with France’s Eutelsat in september

4:JioSpaceFibre is now available in remote cities across India. These include Gir in Gujarat, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Nabarangpur in Odisha and OMGC-Jorhat in Assam

47: The 64 submissions submitted to TRAI requested a non-auction method for spectrum allocation. A dozen respondents, including Jio, voted in favor of the auction.

Quote: Indian government tightens control over Indian internet

If online services are brought under the ambit of the law, several alarming requirements related to surveillance, possession, suspension, authorization, etc. will also apply to these services, thereby deepening the threat to our rights and freedoms. To avoid future expansion or reinterpretation of the scope, the definition of telecommunications and telecommunications services in the bill itself must explicitly exclude network services.

Internet Freedom Foundation December 20 statement on the new bill