Trai floats 4% of AGR pricing for satcom cos

Satellite communication companies such as Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb, and Jio Satellite will have to pay 4% of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) as spectrum charges to the government, as per the telecom regulator's recommendations issued on Friday.

- Jatin Grover

NEW DELHI:

The much awaited recommendations by Trai will now pave the way for users in the country to get satellite broadband connectivity soon.

In addition to the 4% AGR spectrum charge, the satcom operators will also have to pay a licence fee to the government at 8% of the AGR, as per the authorisation terms.

This is steeper than what these companies had been lobbying for. Elon Musk's Starlink and Amazon Inc.'s subsidiary Kuiper Systems had during consultations with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) urged it to keep the spectrum charge below 1% of their AGR, with no other charges.

Trai, however, has recommended ₹3,500 per MHz as annual minimum spectrum charges for companies offering both fixed satellite services and mobile satellite services.