Musk's win on India satellite spectrum raises prospect of price war with Ambani

Having conscionable mislaid a conflict with Elon Musk implicit however India's outer spectrum is awarded, Asia's richest antheral Mukesh Ambani could look a bigger situation if Musk's Starlink launches services successful India and the 2 spell head-to-head connected price.

India's authorities said connected Tuesday it volition allocate spectrum for outer broadband administratively and not via auction, hours aft Musk criticized the auction way being sought by rival billionaire Ambani arsenic "unprecedented."

Musk's Starlink, a portion of SpaceX which has 6,400 progressive satellites orbiting world to supply low-latency broadband to 4 cardinal customers, has publically expressed involvement in launching successful India, but its plans faced repeated regulatory roadblocks.

Ambani, who runs India's biggest telecom company, Reliance Jio, had tried since past twelvemonth to question a "balanced competitory landscape" and wanted to support Musk astatine bay, arsenic experts accidental a spectrum auction would person required overmuch much concern and deterred overseas players.

Reliance, which has dominated India's telecom assemblage for years, is present acrophobic that aft spending $19 cardinal successful airwave auctions it risks losing broadband customers to Musk, and perchance adjacent information and dependable clients aboriginal arsenic exertion advances, a idiosyncratic with nonstop cognition said connected Thursday.

The Indian authorities says its determination to allocate spectrum administratively to whoever applies for it is successful enactment with planetary trends.

It has not acceptable a timeframe for erstwhile the process volition commencement but Musk's Starlink has already applied for indispensable permits. Starlink's introduction into the Indian marketplace would make a caller battleground betwixt the 2 billionaires: pricing.

Musk has thousands of operational satellites, portion Reliance has partnered with Luxembourg-based SES Astra, which non-profit CelesTrak says has 38 satellites that Reliance plans to use.

"Starlink tin terms aggressively due to the fact that it doesn't request to adhd much satellites," said Tim Farrar, a outer manufacture expert astatine U.S.-based TMF Associates.

Ambani erstwhile gave information for escaped connected his mobile plans, but Musk is nary alien to specified tactics which tin unsettle section players.

In Kenya, Musk priced Starlink astatine $10 per month, versus $120 successful United States, with rental plans disposable for higher hardware cost. Kenya's Safaricom in July complained to local regulators, calling for players similar Starlink to beryllium required to spouse with mobile networks, and not run independently.

In India, a Reliance Jio fibre-based, high-speed broadband program costs $10 per month, with router escaped connected semipermanent plans. It has a 30% marketplace stock successful the wired broadband market.

Starlink has plans to connection an unlimited net information program successful India initially and people firm clients, said a 2nd manufacture root acquainted with the matter.

Reliance and Starlink did not respond to Reuters queries.

With 42 cardinal wired broadband net users and 904 cardinal telecom users connected networks similar 4G and 5G, India is the world's second-biggest telecom marketplace aft China.

Internet penetration successful India stood astatine 52.4% arsenic of aboriginal 2024, according to DataReportal and determination are inactive 25,000 villages without internet. And adjacent successful municipality cities, galore areas don't person fibre-based accelerated net offerings.

Musk said past twelvemonth Starlink "can beryllium incredibly helpful" successful distant Indian villages oregon places that deficiency high-speed services, and his erstwhile India caput successful 2022 said Starlink astatine the clip targeted 200,000 customers wrong 8 months of launch.

Starlink has besides announced plans to motorboat globally a constellation of hundreds of satellites to alteration "direct to cell" dependable and information services successful coming years.

Gareth Owen, subordinate manager astatine probe steadfast Counterpoint, however, said immoderate of the fears astir Musk mightiness beryllium overstated, arsenic "terrestrial networks volition ever beryllium little costly (and) businesses volition ne'er power wholly to satellite."

For now, adjacent earlier the existent conflict starts connected the ground, the Musk-Ambani rivalry is progressively connected display.

A Reuters study this week that Ambani was again lobbying New Delhi to auction outer spectrum for a "level playing field" caught Musk's attention, aft a societal media idiosyncratic asked if Ambani was frightened of Musk disrupting the Indian billionaire's telecom empire.

"I volition telephone (Ambani) and inquire if it would not beryllium excessively overmuch occupation to let Starlink to vie to supply net services to the radical of India," Musk joked successful a station connected X successful response.