Author: Liu Muxuan
Edit: Liang Li
A business war of Musk, the world’s richest man, "challenged" the world’s richest man, quietly ended in India.
This commercial war revolves around India’s distribution system for satellite broadband spectrum, whether the satellite broadband service "star chain" related to Musk can enter the Indian market at a low cost.
According to the consulting company Deloitte, India’s satellite broadband market size will increase by 36%per year, and by 2030, it will reach US $ 1.9 billion (about 13.5 billion yuan).
Earlier, Musk advocated that satellite broadband spectrum should implement administrative distribution in accordance with international practice, and each company obtained spectrum resources at the pre -set price of government.This also means that if the spectrum resources are distributed immediately, the Star Chain, as the only satellite broadband system in the world that is capable of providing large -scale services, can almost enjoy this spectrum resource, until Amazon’s Project Kuiper or Ambani’s JiospaceFiber, etc.The arrival of the bureau.
However, the chairman of the Xinshi Group Aubney personally wrote to India’s telecommunications minister Scindia, SCindia, which protested, arguing that it should increase the threshold for foreign satellite broadband business to enter the Indian market.Ambani advocates the implementation of the auction system for the spectrum, and the price is high.Once his protests are successful, the cost of significantly increased the star chain into the Indian market and offset the first advantage of the star chain as a technical leader.
On October 16, Indian Telecom Minister Scindia said that, given that the broadband spectrum of countries around the world has implemented administrative distribution, India will adapt to this trend.However, satellite broadband spectrum cannot be provided for free, and local regulators will supervise the pricing of this resource.
This statement is equivalent to rejection of Ambani’s protest, but for Musk, it is not easy to completely win the Indian market.
Musk’s question: Star chain is too expensive
India, which is rich in IT talents, has a serious digital gap.The Indian market has sufficient demand for various network infrastructure including satellite broadband including star chain.
As of now, 35%of the country in India cannot use the network, and the broadband penetration rate in rural areas is only 3%.This is also the result of the long -term investment network infrastructure construction since its "digital India" in 2015.
Regarding this situation, Musk said in 2023 that the star chain was very useful for those remote villages without the Internet.
Compared with the widely used fiber and base stations on the ground, the advantage of satellite broadband is that it can ensure network and digital signals throughout the weather, conveniently and quickly, and can cover signals on aircraft and yachts.For some remote areas of India with high cost of optical fiber, the star chain may be the best choice at the moment. Only one set of signal is required to receive the device to access the Internet.
In recent years, the most famous example of the Star Chain is when a large number of infrastructure in Ukraine is destroyed, Musk has made his wartime area with the star chain on the wartime area to ensure the network signals in these areas.
At present, Musk’s star chain has covered more than 100 countries and regions around the world, with more than 3 million users.The star chain is not only one of the earliest pioneers in the field of satellite width, but also the only industry leader who is capable of providing large -scale services.Guoabong Stock
But in the face of the Indian market, the Star Chain has a fatal problem: it is too expensive.
Although it can be tried for 30 days for free, the monthly chain’s monthly online fee price is still several times that of most national telecommunications operators.Remote areas are usually relatively poor and backward, and people in these areas are almost unable to buy the service of the star chain at their own expense.
According to the details revealed by the person in charge of the Star Chain India, India ’s Star Chain Satellite 100M broadband preliminary pricing is 7,425 rupees (about 628 yuan), and it is necessary to pay 3,7400 rupees (about 3167 yuan RMB 3,167 yuan at first use.) Special hardware.
Although compared with US $ 120 (about 855 yuan) of hardware (about 855 yuan), the cost of $ 400 (about 2849 yuan) has a lot cheaper, but Ambani’s JIO provided by the ground fiber provided by India in India provided in India provided in IndiaThe monthly fee of the broadband service is 699 rupees (about 59 yuan), and only about 7%of the Xinglian is required, and it is also included in the door. The hardware is free.
In addition, the upper limit of the network speed theory of ground fiber optic broadband is 1,000 megenic, while the upper limit of the network speed theory of the star chain is only 220 mega.
JIO’s satellite service is called JiospaceFiber. It has tested signals in four remote areas in India and has not yet announced the specific time of service to go online.But for service prices, Jio said it would be as high as ever as much as ever.
Ambani protest: In order to be a rule maker
Earlier, the key to the dispute between the two rich people was the explanation of Indian law.
The distribution system of satellite broadband spectrum in Indian law has followed the administrative distribution system since the 2G era.
Administrative distribution treats spectrum as natural resources, allowing many operators to share spectrum, which can improve resource utilization efficiency.For consumers, this method of allocation is not small, because it is not easy for operators to share spectrums to increase their prices collectively.
For the Indian government, administrative distribution means that 1%of the average annual revenue of each satellite service spectrum can be obtained as tax, and the auction spectrum advocated by Ambani means that the Indian government can obtain a lot of financial revenue at one time.Essence
According to the Indian Times quoted experts in the Indian satellite network industry, the current administrative distribution system is conducive to Musk.
In the field of satellite services, Star Chain has the first advantage. There are already more than 6,000 satellites to provide services in the near -ground track, and the star ship created by Musk’s own company SpaceX is still being launching the star chain satellite.
In contrast, their peers are too behind.Ambani’s JIO does not have the ability to launch an independent launch satelliteSimla Stock. He can only choose to cooperate with SES Astra, headquartered in Luxembourg. Non -profit organization Celestrak said that Xinshi Telecom plans to use 38 satellites.The Project Kuiper of Amazon’s founder Bezos is expected to launch a satellite until next year.
Therefore, in order to delay time and to "maintain a fair environment", Ambani proposed that the satellite service spectrum in emerging fields should implement auction system.
It is worth noting that Ambani proposed that the form of auction system was very direct.
India’s telecommunications department publicly released a document after noticing the controversy in the industry, asking for consultation opinions from various companies.
However, Ambani’s Xinshi Group directly believes that the Indian Telecom Minister Scindia, and bluntly stated that the idea of administrative allocation of satellite broadband spectrum is "wrong". In order to "ensure fair competition between satellite communication and traditional networks", it is recommended that the relevant Indian departments recommendAuction satellite spectrum and re -publish consultation documents.
Ambani also played a "nationalist card", which particularly reminded the Indian telecommunications department to be alert to "foreign competitors entering India’s voice and data service market."Kanpur Stock
It is worth mentioning that, as industry organizations in this field, the Indian Broadband Forum (BIF) collectively opposed the fair competition environment called by Anbani, and believes that faithful opposition is misunderstanding of technology and law.
The statistics of the Indian research institution Koan Advisory also show that in the public consultation held by the Indian Telecom Department on the satellite spectrum, there are a total of 64 responses from enterprises, industry groups and other institutions, of which 48 are in favor of administrative distribution, 12 support auctions, and 12 support auctions.The remaining 4 parts hold a neutral attitude.
The risk of "foreign capital cemetery"
At present, the satellite spectrum dispute has ended temporarily, but Musk still needs to worry about the repeated policies of India’s foreign -funded enterprises.
Because when promoting the service of the Star Chain, Musk had suffered losses in India.
Because the Star Chain has almost opened up the market for satellite broadband services with its own strength, most countries have not yet formulated relevant policies for this new field.For example, in Sri Lanka, next to India, Musk opened an appointment to local users on the Internet, and got in touch with the Sri Lanka government, and obtained all the permission to the Star Chain service online in just 2 months.
But in India, Musk’s way of promotion is not spiritual.
In 2021, Musk opened an appointment directly to Indian users on the Internet and collected a deposit of $ 99 per person.At that time, the number of registered people quickly reached 5,000.
But soon, the Indian telecommunications department pointed out that the Star Chain did not apply for a license and asked it to refund the deposit of all Indian users.In the end, Musk could only make concessions, refund the refund and submit a formal license proposal at the end of 2022.Previously, Sanjay Bhargava, an Indian executive of selling 200,000 terminals in India, also resigned.
After Musk’s star chain obtained a global satellite mobile personal communication service (GMPCS) license issued by the Indian telecommunications department, he was required to apply for the establishment of ground base stations to the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-Space).Chennai Stock
By 2024, the Indian government did not continue to ask the Star Chain to apply for permission. It was the "final stage" of the Indian telecommunications department’s turn to distribute the spectrum.
Musk’s encounter is not alone. In fact, India often is called "foreign cemetery" for obvious local protectionist policies, and often has repeated policies and recovery fines.
For example, Xiaomi, who entered India’s factories in 2015, was suddenly judged by the Indian Taxation Bureau as a violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Law in January 2022, and was fined 6.53 billion rupees (about RMB 553 million), and 725 millionThe assets of the US dollar (about 5.16 billion yuan) were frozen.Among them, the patent expenses of Xiaomi’s funds earned by India pay for Qualcomm, the United States, and are also considered illegal.
In 2014, Samsung from South Korea was fined $ 200 million in India, and in 2023, he was fined more than 100 million US dollars for violating the environment.The US technology giant Apple also encountered a wallLucknow Stock. As early as 2022, Apple issued a 1.1 billion yuan fine by the local government for monopoly stores.In addition, a well -known international giant, including Google, Vodafone, Amazon, and Foxconn, has been planted in India, which has also caused the outside world to have a lot of concerns about the Indian investment environment.
At the same time, Indian local corporate giants are also good at using local protective weapons, including Ambani and his faithful group.
Ambani’s Shinshi Group is a super giant that spans petrochemical, telecommunications, biotechnology and retail industries. It has long benefited from India’s local protectionism and solid political and business resources.In July of this year, even Indian Prime Minister Modi personally came to celebrate the wedding for Anbani’s younger son, Agun.
In 2008, (rights protection) cooperated with Xinshi Group to build the Indian Shengsheng Power Station project with a contract amount of 1.311 billion US dollars (about 9.3 billion yuan).However, after the power station was put into commercial operation in 2015, the faith was not paid.After Mumbai’s applied for arbitration in India, he was claimed to be claimed by RMB 2.1 billion.Although the claim was rejected by the Mumbai court, Mumbai Electric was not announced until 2023 that the arbitration had won the lawsuit, and the receipt progress reached 90%.
In this competition with Musk’s satellite spectrum, Xinshi Group stated in the Indian telecommunications department that "cannot harm the interests of Indian companies" and is worried that Star Chain will copy Amazon’s success in the Indian e -commerce field.
After entering the Indian market, Amazon was banned from selling self -operated products and was also required to save data in India.Even so, Amazon defeated the E -commerce subsidiary of Xinshi Group and became the largest e -commerce platform in India.
Agra Investment
