Musk's Starlink won the battle for India's satellite broadband market, and a government minister said spectrum would be distributed rather than auctioned as Indian billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal were seeking. India's Telecom Minister Scindia told reporters on Tuesday that radio waves around the world have been distributed administratively, and India will follow this trend. But satellite broadband spectrum cannot be provided free of charge, and local regulators will monitor the pricing of this resource, he said. Scindia is trying to ease concerns about newcomers like Starlink getting spectrum cheaply, but the battle between billionaires is intensifying. Local wireless operators oppose the distribution of satellite broadband radio waves at prices predetermined by the government, saying this creates an unfair competitive environment because they have to compete for the spectrum of terrestrial wireless telephone networks through auctions.

Musk's Starlink won the battle for India's satellite broadband market, and a government minister said spectrum would be distributed rather than auctioned as Indian billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal were seeking. India's Telecom Minister Scindia told reporters on Tuesday that radio waves around the world have been distributed administratively, and India will follow this trend. But satellite broadband spectrum cannot be provided free of charge, and local regulators will monitor the pricing of this resource, he said. Scindia is trying to ease concerns about newcomers like Starlink getting spectrum cheaply, but the battle between billionaires is intensifying. Local wireless operators oppose the distribution of satellite broadband radio waves at prices predetermined by the government, saying this creates an unfair competitive environment because they have to compete for the spectrum of terrestrial wireless telephone networks through auctions.