Starlink is likely to be subjected to a spectrum usage charge (SUC) in India, a levy that had been scrapped for terrestrial network providers such as Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea a few years ago, ToI reported citing sources.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) plan follows strong criticism by Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea that argued that main stakeholders like telemarketers and OTT players have been kept out of the ambit of its latest regulations to check spam.
Telecom operators, including Jio and Airtel, have introduced voice and SMS-only tariff packs following a directive from Trai.
TRAI’s report on the telecom industry’s fiscal second quarter performance also indicated that monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) from wireless services rose 9.60% on-quarter to Rs 172.57.
Any message where the telemarketer chain is undefined or does not match will be rejected in accordance with Trai's directives," said SP Kochhar, director-general of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) that represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea.
However, some exceptions could be given under the new Telecommunications Act to serve public interest, or to perform government function or where such auctions are not the preferred mode of assigning spectrum due to technical or economic reasons, minister of state for communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
New Delhi: Elon Musk’s Starlink has hit back against Indian telecom operators’ demand that only auctioned satellite spectrum should be used to service urban or retail consumers, terming it “self-serving at the cost of underserved users”.
Mobile phone operators had told Trai that messages containing OTPs and other critical activities may not be delivered as telemarketers (TM) and principal entities (PEs) such as banks and other financial institutions were yet to implement the technical solution.
In its reference, the MIB stated that some existing provisions under FM Phase-III policy may require a relook in order to cater to technology shifts.
The move came after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) asked telcos to blacklist and disconnect unregistered telemarketers.
Separately, Trai has sought views on whether DoT’s December 2023 order should be the benchmark for determining spectrum pricing on `a per MHz basis’ for fixed satellite services offered by LEO/MEO constellation operators.
The regulator also said it has recommended the government to provide a glide path to financial accounting and reporting, assignment of spectrum and numbering resources at a national level for entities obtaining unified service authorisation.
