India a great market, confident of multiple players in satcom sector: Scindia on Musk's visit
The government has already granted licences to firms backed by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal to offer satellite internet services, and Scindia indicated more may be granted if players meet security and regulatory norms.
Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday threw his weight behind having more players in satellite internet space, saying the service was needed particularly in the rural and underserved areas of the vast market that is India.
The government has already granted licences to firms backed by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal to offer satellite internet services, and Scindia indicated more may be granted if players meet security and regulatory norms.
The minister's statement is a positive one for Elon Musk's Starlink that has aspirations to operate in the world's most populous nation.
Starlink, which had been vying for an India licence for sometime now, last month signed pacts with Ambani's Reliance Jio and Mittal's Bharti Airtel—which together control more than 70% of the country's telecom market—to bring the US satellite internet giant's services to India.
Citing the licences granted to Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications, the minister, in an interview to PTI, asserted that every company is welcome in India.
He did not comment on Starlink's licence application but reports suggest it is nearing initial regulatory approval.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his visit to the US had met Musk and last week had a telephonic conversation with the world's richest man.
Musk, whose electric car Tesla is looking to sell in India but faces hurdles of high import duties, has stated that he would visit the country later this year.
To a question on Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's recent announcement of India visit later this year, the minister said, "I think that his visit here will be in his form of heading DOGE as well as his multiple business enterprises and I think India is a great market for strengthening US-India relations and for any entrepreneur and any business enterprise to further and deepen their integration into the global market."
Terming satcom as an "imperative for India", Scindia—who is the Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER)—highlighted that technology allows the last-mile coverage and connectivity in hard-to-reach or uncovered areas.
"From a telecoms perspective, we welcome all players into the market. I am company-agnostic and I am customer-centric. And it is my job to provide choice to my customers, and I would want more and more satellite companies to operate in India because at the end of the day through satcom you are able to connect the last mile of customers that are not being able to be reached through traditional networks or through optical fibre cable or broadband, fixed or mobile," he said.
It is pertinent to mention that the government has already granted licence to Startlink rivals Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications for about one-and-a-half years for providing satellite internet services. However, these companies are yet to start their operation as Trai has so far not finalised spectrum allocation rules.
Starlink is considered to be a disruptor in this segment as it operates the world's biggest constellation of over 6,750 satellites whereas Eutelsat OneWeb has a little over 600 satellites and Jio's satellite partners operate nearly 70.
The minister said he would like more companies to come and participate in the Indian market, and added, "Every company is welcome in India."
On how the government would look to balance the regulatory and security considerations with the connectivity goals, the minister assured that there are clear deliverables that address such concerns.
"That is already done. Our proforma has clear deliverables that take care of, on the one hand, customers and provision of services, and on the other hand security issues. I am very confident that you will have multiple players in India in the near future in the satellite business," Scindia said.
To a question on recent turn of events that saw telcos—previously engaged in a bitter spat with satcom players—teaming up unexpectedly with Starlink, the minister said the question should, in fact, be directed at the companies involved, since his own stance had been the same all along that one must be quick to adapt to technologies and innovations that benefit humankind.
"...that is a question that you need to ask them because my stand was exactly the same prior to their opposition and post their acquiescence to this technology. As I mentioned I am technology agnostic. Technology evolves very rapidly in the world. What used to take decades, now take days... that is the pace of innovation that humankind has evolved. And we must adapt to that," Scindia said.
Recalling the words of his professor at Stanford, Intel Founder Andrew Grove, on change being the only constant, and that only paranoids survive, Scindia said the words of wisdom have stayed with him all through.
"I remember the words of professor that I was taught by at Stanford. He was one of the founders of Intel, Andy Grove and he said two things to me which stayed with me ever since. First, that the only constant in the world, is change. And second, only the paranoid survive. So both are very very important statements," he said, linking it to the current context of rapid technological changes, and the need to adapt.
"Technology is ever changing and you need to adapt to that. I am glad that our telcos are now in line with ensuring that every customer and every consumer gets access. And this is another form of access," Scindia said.