Telecom Dept Raises Concerns on TRAI's Satellite Internet Tariff

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has returned a number of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) recommendations on satellite spectrum and pricing for reassessment.

One of the major elements of TRAI’s recommendations was an additional charge of ₹500 per year on every urban subscriber. However, DoT was not quite comfortable with the idea of a distinction between urban and rural subscribers as it can create certain problems like policy misuse and also compliance issues due to the difficulty of such differentiation.

As per TRAI’s recommendation, the lowest spectrum auction price should be set at ₹3,500 per MHz per annum, and it was also suggested that satellite internet companies like Starlink, Jio Satellite, and OneWeb should pay 4% of their total revenue as spectrum charges. In case the 4% cut was not sufficient, the regulator proposed that the ₹3,500 per MHz per customer along with the ₹500 for urban users be utilized to motivate the operators to take off in the rural areas. DoT, however, seems to be advocating even higher prices contrary to what they report in the case of mobile satellite services while pushing the general trend of prices higher.

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Besides, TRAI had put forward the idea of subsidies to satellite terminals, which at present cost between ₹20,000 and ₹50,000, to bring about the purchasing power for consumers all over India. This suggestion by DoT has also been sent back for more questioning.

The industry has raised its voice in protest as well. COAI, in May when the Cellular Operators Association of India, wrote to the government denouncing TRAI’s ideas, labeling them as “non-transparent, unfair, and unjustifiably low.”