Sunil Bharti Mittal: Ready to launch satellite telecom services, awaiting Centre’s nod

NEW DELHI: Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, reiterated on Friday that its satellite telecom service is ready for rollout in India and that it is waiting for the Centre’s greenlight.

Satellite telecom in India will help the country provide much-needed services to remote interior places where conventional telecom services tend to be costly.

“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 told reporters on the sidelines of SOUL Leadership Conclave here in the national capital.

#WATCH | Delhi: On Spectrum allocation, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Bharti Mittal says, “…There are many parts of the world and many people are still living in dark areas which need to be illuminated. The only way to do this is through satellite broadband… pic.twitter.com/lxNqsO7BNV

— ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2025

“So, as soon as we are given the green light, we launch our services,” the telecom leader 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”.

He also responded to Elon Musk’s criticism of India’s spectrum allocation process. Musk has applied for a satellite telecom licence in India and is critical of the process. Mittal reiterated Bharti’s stance, emphasising 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 argued that satellite companies should be required to pay licensing fees and acquire spectrum through auctions, just as traditional telecom operators do.

There has been a continued debate on the process of spectrum allocation — administrative allocation or through auction. Elon Musk’s Starlink and global peers like Amazon’s Project Kuiper want an administrative allocation of spectrum for satellite services.

OneWeb has already launched 635 satellites and is providing services in other parts of the world. It has in the past argued that companies should be required to pay licensing fees and acquire spectrum through auctions, just as traditional telecom operators do. Bharti is the largest shareholder in Eutelsat OneWeb.

Bharti Enterprises has already launched over 600 satellites and is providing services in some other parts of the world. The Akash Ambani-led Reliance Jio had also pitched for satellite companies to pay licence fees and buy spectrum for their telecom services just like legacy telecom companies do. (ANI)