Elon Musk's Starlink and Amazon Kuiper Push for Lower Satellite Spectrum Prices in India

Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon's Kuiper are asking for lower satellite spectrum prices in India, according to the Economic Times.

Kuiper has warned that high airwave costs might lead them to focus on urban customers instead of connecting remote areas where setting up traditional infrastructure, like phone towers, is difficult.

This change would put them in competition with major companies like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.

Starlink recently said that satellite spectrum is a shared resource and shouldn’t be auctioned.

This is different from what Mukesh Ambani (owner of Jio) and Sunil Mittal (head of Airtel) believe. Mittal thinks the spectrum should be auctioned in all areas except remote ones.

Right now, OneWeb and Jio-SES are the only companies approved to provide satellite communication services in India, while Starlink and Kuiper are still waiting for their applications to be approved.