Union telecommunication minister Jyotiraditya Scindia cleared the government's stance over the issue, saying that spectrum will not be auctioned but it will be allocated administratively. He made it clear that the service providers will have to pay the cost.

A major battle is heating up between billionaires Elon Musk and Mukesh Ambani over satellite broadband spectrum in India. Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries and Elon Musk, CEO of Starlink,

The government on Tuesday said it will allot spectrum for satellite broadband administratively and not via auction. This came just a few hours after Musk called the auction route being sought by Ambani as "unprecedented".

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance has privately argued that the telecom regulator incorrectly concluded that home satellite broadband spectrum should be allocated by New Delhi and not auctioned,

This comes hours after Sunil Bharti Mittal joined Reliance Jio in demanding the allocation of spectrum for satcom services in the same manner as it is allocated to telecom players.

India is set to allocate spectrum for satellite services through administrative means rather than auction, a decision that aligns with recent comments by Elon Musk and rebuffs lobbying efforts by the country's largest telecom operators.

India's government on Tuesday said it will allot spectrum for satellite broadband administratively and not via auction, hours after Elon Musk criticized the auction route being sought by rival billionaire Mukesh Ambani as "unprecedented".

The Indian government announced on Tuesday that it will allocate satellite broadband spectrum administratively rather than through auction. This decision follows criticism from Elon Musk , who described the auction approach sought by rival billionaire Mukesh Ambani as "unprecedented.

Starlink boss Elon Musk said a move by India to auction satellite broadband spectrum, and not allocate it, would be "unprecedented", reacting to a Reuters story that rival billionaire Mukesh Ambani was lobbying for the auction route.

The fight over how India should allocate satellite broadband spectrum intensified on Tuesday as Elon Musk said any move by New Delhi to auction it, rather than allocate it, would be "unprecedented", challenging the position of rival billionaires.