GOI on Tuesday made its policy for allotting spectrum for satellite broadband amply clear, just hours after Starlink CEO Musk criticized the auction route being sought by rival billionaire Mukesh Ambani as “unprecedented”. GOI informed that spectrum will be allotted administratively and not auctioned. In what is widely perceived as a clash between billionaires, the methodology of allocating spectrum for satellite services in India – a market expected to grow 36% a year to reach $1.9 billion by the year 2030 – has been a prickly issue since last year.

Musk’s Starlink contends administrative allotment of licenses is in line with a global trend, while billionaire Mukesh Ambani led Reliance says an auction is desirable to ensure a level playing field and as there are no provisions in Indian law on how individuals can be offered satellite broadband services. Telecoms Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a New Delhi event that the spectrum will be allotted administratively in line with Indian laws, and its pricing worked out by the telecom watchdog. “If you do decide to auction it, then you will be doing something which is different from the rest of the world,” minister said. Musk was appreciative of GOI’s decision, and said on his social media platform X, “We will do our best to serve the people of India with Starlink”.

A media report that came out on Sunday said that Reliance has challenged the consultation process of Indian telecom regulator signaling that home satellite broadband spectrum should be allocated instead of being auctioned, calling for it to begin again. Reacting to the report Musk had posted on X on Monday that any decision to auction satellite spectrum “would be unprecedented”. The minister’s comment will come as a sigh of relief for him. “This spectrum was long designated by the ITU as shared spectrum for satellites,” said Musk, referring to the International Telecommunication Union, a united nations agency for digital technology.

India is a member of the International Telecommunication Union and signatory to its treaty that regulates satellite spectrum and advocates that allocation must be done “rationally, efficiently and economically” as it is a “limited natural resource”. Sunil Mittal (co-chair of global satellite group Eutelsat, which has partnered with India’s telecom operator Bharti Airtel), voiced support for the auction route on Tuesday. “Satellite companies who have ambitions to come into urban areas, serving elite retail customers, just need to take the telecom licenses like everybody else… they need to buy the spectrum as telecom companies buy,” Mittal said at the New Delhi event.