India Agrees With Musk in Satellite Spectrum Allocation Row

India announced on Tuesday it would allocate spectrum for satellite services through administrative means rather than auction, a decision that aligns with recent comments by Elon Musk and rebuffs lobbying efforts by the country's largest telecom operators. From a report: Jyotiraditya Scindia, India's Communications Minister, stated on Tuesday evening: "Spectrum for satcomm is shared spectrum, and cannot be auctioned. The administrative allocation of satellite spectrum is practised worldwide."

This move favors Musk's Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper, who have advocated for shared spectrum allocation. It contradicts Reliance Jio's position, led by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, which has pushed for auctions to ensure a "level playing field." Musk had warned on Monday that satellite spectrum auctions "would be unprecedented," citing long-standing ITU designations of shared satellite spectrum.

There is still an auction though

[Camel Pilot]

And that is who can pay the politicians the most who administrate the allocations.

This sounds a bit like the POW and POS debate in crypto.

Make the airwaves great again

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Looks like Dark Maga paid the right politicians in India.

Re:

[MachineShedFred]

Or it's the only logical choice. Radio waves don't respect arbitrary lines on a map.

What are you actually advocating for here, that satellites switch off their radios any time a country that hasn't licensed that spectrum comes over the horizon as they orbit? Just how would that work, exactly?

Please think.

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[guruevi]

Everything has a cost, adding circuitry or code that does the location, detection etc adds weight and draws unnecessary power. This whole row was whether India can extract money for something they have no part in creating, building or maintaining. Having these things in auctions is just another form of taxation and knowing any government, rife with corruption and requires greasing the hands of the right people. IMHO all limited resources that require government intervention should be assigned like a patent,

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[MachineShedFred]

Oh, so Nepal and Bengladesh don't get access because India is holding out?

Again, how is that supposed to work?

There is a reason why exactly no satellite radio frequencies are licensed this way.

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[JBeretta]

Looks like Dark Maga paid the right politicians in India.

You lefties are pathetic.. The moment one of your own deviates, just a tiny bit, from the party line, y'all turn on him.. Of course, that's what the left has always done....

And y'all wonder where us righties come up with shit like "Hive-Mind"..... You guys make it so easy...

I know conservatives that are pro-choice or pro-LGBT, and we don't try to perform an exorcism on them.. We just agree to disagree..

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[Powercntrl]

The moment one of your own deviates, just a tiny bit, from the party line, y'all turn on him..

Are you referring to Musk? Some people got fooled into believing Musk was "leftist" because they were blinded by the EVs, but those of us who knew better saw through the mask. I still remember the days of folks rationalizing Musk's actions with "Oh, he's just fleecing the rich to raise the capital needed to produce an EV everyone can afford." Then he trolled those folks hard by releasing the Cybertruck instead.

What's Starlink service cost these days? $120/mo? That makes Spectrum (which I hate so much I

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[Rosco P. Coltrane]

You lefties are pathetic.. The moment one of your own deviates

In what fantasy world was Elon Musk ever a "lefty"? He's a fucking psychopathic billionaire. Billionaire don't have socialist leanings because they're all about more money for me-me-me.

I always considered the man a regular disgusting billionaire. But now he officially cuddles up to Trump and jokes with him on radio shows about summarily firing people, he's on another level of disgusting.

Whichever side of the political spectrum you sit on, if you're not a billionaire and you have any respect for this man, yo

Fight! or Row

[toxonix]

India's richest man Mukesh Ambani [who] has pushed for auctions to ensure a "level playing field."
Billionaires want a level playing field? I think these two should square off in a cage-match to settle this row. Or they should row off into the sunset together.

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[nightflameauto]

India's richest man Mukesh Ambani [who] has pushed for auctions to ensure a "level playing field." Billionaires want a level playing field? I think these two should square off in a cage-match to settle this row. Or they should row off into the sunset together.

Words can not express how disappointed I was that the fight between Musk and Zuck didn't come through, but I like the idea of a billionaire cage match. Perhaps we should set up a "any above this net worth" line, then toss them in together and see who comes out. Tell them up-front that whoever survives gets all the net worth from those who don't make it. That'd be enough to make them fight. It's not like you have to follow through after. These folks live on lies already, what's another one?

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[imunfair]

I don't think he's even looking to be on the playing field - he's probably just looking to own the field so he can rent it to Musk and other providers who actually need to use it.

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[toxonix]

I'd rather. I mean collecting money by owning stuff is what makes them billionaires. Not their enormous egos or terrible ideas.

India should auction the spectrum

[bubblyceiling]

Makes sense what Ambani is saying. Auctions ensure maximum value can be obtained for a limited resource