New Delhi [India]: Bharti Enterprises Founder and Chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal, confirmed on Friday that the company’s satellite telecom service is fully prepared for rollout in India and is now awaiting the government’s approval.
Satellite telecom is expected to play a crucial role in bridging connectivity gaps, particularly in remote and rural areas where traditional telecom services remain expensive and challenging to implement.
“We are one of the leading players and are waiting for permissions. We are providing these services in many parts of the world already. So I think it’s a great initiative, and we have already sought our permissions to launch,” Mittal stated at the SOUL Leadership Conclave in New Delhi.
“So as soon as we are given the green light, we launch our services,” he added. “There are lots of parts of the world and lots of people still living in those dark areas which need to be lit up. The only way it can be done is through satellite broadband connectivity.”
Response to Elon Musk’s Criticism
Mittal also addressed concerns raised by Elon Musk regarding India’s spectrum allocation process. Musk, who has applied for a satellite telecom license in India, has been critical of the current system.
Reaffirming Bharti’s stance, Mittal stressed that spectrum in rural and hard-to-reach areas should be allocated on a shared basis.
“We are very clear for all the rural, hard to get to areas, the spectrum should be given on a shared basis. It’s only in the area of urban areas. All that TRAI and DoT need to come (up) with a policy which doesn’t discriminate against the terrestrial providers,” he said.
Bharti Enterprises has consistently maintained that satellite companies should be subject to licensing fees and should acquire spectrum through auctions, similar to traditional telecom operators.
Ongoing Spectrum Allocation Debate
The discussion on spectrum allocation—whether it should be administratively assigned or auctioned—remains a contentious issue. Companies like Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper advocate for administrative allocation, arguing that satellite services differ from traditional telecom networks.
Meanwhile, Bharti-backed OneWeb has already launched 635 satellites and is actively providing services in multiple regions. The company has consistently argued that satellite operators should follow the same licensing and spectrum acquisition rules as terrestrial telecom providers. Bharti is the largest shareholder in Eutelsat OneWeb.
Reliance Jio, led by Akash Ambani, has also supported the idea that satellite telecom companies should pay licensing fees and purchase spectrum through auctions, aligning with the regulatory framework followed by legacy telecom firms.