Telecom Bill 2023: GMPC players may get spectrum at administered price

As the government tables the Telecommunications Bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha, the move is seen as a big win for Sunil Mittal's OneWeb, which had been pushing for the same

Telecom Bill 2023: In what could be a major win for Sunil Mittal's OneWeb, the telecom Bill proposed to be tabled in Parliament on Monday is believed to have included global mobile personal communications (GMPC) satellite providers among those to be assigned spectrum under the administered price. While OneWeb had been pushing for this, rival telco Reliance Jio, part of the Mikesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd, had been demanding auction of spectrum.

Currently, the Telecommunications Bill 2023 specifies that as far as spectrum management is concerned, the government may assign it for telecom either through auction or administrative process for government purposes in view of public interest or necessity in Schedule 1, or any other means.