Auctioning Spectrum for Satellite is NOT a good idea. No model will work without artificially limiting the number of prospective winners – leading to wastage of spectrum. Why? The reason is that the Satellite Operators aren’t capable of using spectrum efficiently (compared to terrestrial players) due to a limited number of satellites visible over the geography at any time vs. lakhs of Base Stations installed terrestrially. This is why satellite spectrum can’t be auctioned to players for “exclusive use” as we do for the terrestrial spectrum, and therefore, most advanced economies of the world assign spectrum for satellite services administratively.
India might want to follow a different approach, given the past issues that it has faced when assigning 2G spectrum administratively – leading to a scam that became problematic for the government. Hence, TRAI is analyzing different models for auctioning satellite spectrum. One of the possible models being discussed is the auctioning of satellite spectrum using % revenue share/annum as a metric.
