Bharti Airtel's Sunil Mittal joins Ambani to pitch for satellite firms buying spectrum

Last week, Reliance Jio had written to Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia opposing the telecom regulator TRAI's recommendation of satellite broadband being allocated and not auctioned

In a bid to create a level-playing field, the Indian Mobile Congress on October 15 saw two telecom rivals Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal and Akash Ambani-led Reliance Jio come together to make a strong pitch for satellite companies paying license fee as well as buying airwaves for their telecom services just like legacy companies do.

Mittal, who heads India's second largest telecom firm Bharti Airtel, said existing telecom companies will take satellite services into the remotest parts. He was speaking at the India Mobile Conference.

"And those satellite companies who have ambitions to come into urban areas, serving retail customers, just need to pay the telecom licenses like everyone else. They are bound to the same conditions.

"They need to buy the spectrum as the telecom companies do, and need to pay the license as the telecom companies do, and also secure the networks of the telecom companies," he said in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Last week, Ambani's Reliance Jio had written to Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia opposing the telecom regulator TRAI's recommendation of satellite broadband being allocated and not auctioned.

Elon Musk's Starlink and global peers like Amazon's Project Kuiper back an administrative allocation.