Reliance Jio, Amazon Leo spar over proposed satellite network framework

Telecom operator Reliance Jio and Amazon Leo have locked horns over the government’s proposed satellite communication network (SCN) framework, with spectrum ownership emerging as a key source of disagreement.

The framework seeks to allow satellite companies to act as infrastructure providers by supplying capacity to telecom and internet providers. This, in effect, creates a new category of companies that would operate satellite communication networks, including ground stations. Licensed telecom and satellite internet service providers would then use this infrastructure to deliver satellite internet services to users.

Jio has opposed granting spectrum rights to these infrastructure providers, arguing that only licensed telecom operators should hold spectrum through auctions.

On Thursday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) held an industry discussion on the proposed framework for satellite communication network authorization and related spectrum terms. This framework is different from the licences currently held by companies such as Elon Musk's Starlink, OneWeb and Jio Satellite, which are used to roll out satellite internet services.

Reliance Jio argued that spectrum for satellite communication network should be auctioned. “The spectrum should be assigned only to the authorized access service providers and no other entity including the proposed SCN entity should hold any right to use spectrum,” U.K. Shrivastava, president of regulatory affairs at Reliance Jio, said.

Shrivastava argued that a separate SCN category is unnecessary and a separation between service and network layers already exists. He noted that introducing an SCN provider would create a regulatory imbalance and be detrimental to the sector's orderly growth.

Amazon Leo, which is currently in the fray to obtain a full-fledged authorisation from the government to provide satellite internet services in the country, opposed any auctions of such spectrum. “The feeder link spectrum should be held by the SCN entity and the user link spectrum should be held by the partnering entity,” said Faheem Shaikh, lead, licensing & regulatory affairs – South Asia at Amazon Leo, during the Trai consultation.

Under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, the government has decided to administratively allocate satellite communication spectrum without auctions.

According to Shaikh, restricting ground segment spectrum assignment to Indian service providers would lock the infrastructure to domestic use cases only.

“SCN entities with global constellations would lose their ability to serve neighboring countries from Indian gateways which we already have a policy for,” Shaikh said, adding that there are landlocked countries like Nepal and Bhutan that depend on India or China for internet connectivity, and the government should allow SCN to provide internet breakout through Indian gateways for them.

“If this would be a bottleneck, we fear a lot of the investment that is supposed to come in the ground infrastructure in India might shift to Bangladesh, which has a lot of easy policy with a local internet breakout,” he said.

To be sure, internet breakout refers to the point where internet traffic enters or leaves a country to reach the global network. For countries like Nepal or Bhutan, internet breakout happens through another country’s infrastructure (like India or China), which carries their data to global networks.

Contrary to Jio on spectrum ownership, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea both advocated a middle path. The two operators stated that while user link spectrum should strictly remain with the service providers, the SCN entities must be allowed to hold the feeder link spectrum to effectively operate their gateways.

In fact, Jio also faced opposition from its peers on the rollout of direct-to-device (D2D) satellite technology that will allow smartphones to access mobile connectivity, including internet services, directly through satellites. Reliance Jio wants the government to not rush the rollout and wait for the outcome of World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 2027, a key global event that will decide spectrum rules and regulatory frameworks for D2D services.

“The D2D service via satellite using IMT (international mobile telecommunication) spectrum should not be permitted at this stage. We have to wait for the WRC 2027 outcome because that will help evolve a policy framework around interference mitigation and would also be useful for global harmonization of IMT bands, thereby enabling device interoperability etc,” Shrivastava said.

Jio's contention has come at a time when it is also preparing to have its own constellation of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites. On the other hand, Vodafone Idea had last year announced a partnership with US-based AST SpaceMobile to provide satellite-based direct-to-mobile connectivity services.

“Waiting for 2027 means the enabling frameworks will come by, let's say, 2028-29 and the commercial rollouts will obviously happen after 2029-30 or maybe even later, and that would actually just deny the country the ability to leverage and utilize the advantage that D2D brings,” said Ambika Khurana, chief regulatory and corporate affairs officer at Vodafone Idea.

According to Khurana, early rollout of D2D would accelerate universal connectivity and can play critical roles specifically for national security and disaster emergency services.

Amazon Leo, too, argued that there must at least be a scope for testing and demonstrations immediately for D2D services.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has proposed a 'wholesale' model for satellite communications like D2D, which is currently under the telecom regulator's consultation process. Under this model, the satellite company can sell its services to the telecom operator, which resells them to the final customer.

The Broadband India Forum (BIF), which represents technology companies, argued that treating satellite communications purely as a network layer, rather than a standalone service, is "ultra vires" (beyond the legal authority) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023.

Absence of standalone and dedicated satellite service providers would make satellite network operators, as envisaged in this consultation, to be dependent on partnership with access service licences to provide satellite based services. This will hurt competition and reduce consumer choice, said Debashish Bhattacharya, additional director general at BIF, during the Trai discussion.

During the discussion, the industry stakeholders also asked the telecom regulator to prevent double taxation by allowing full deductions of capacity charges paid by service providers to the satellite communication network provider, from gross revenue.