GSMA chief calls for fair rules as TRAI’s satcom proposals spark concern

GSMA director general Vivek Badrinath.

Global telecom body GSMA has called for regulatory parity between satellite and terrestrial telecom providers, saying same legal, economic and tax frameworks must govern similar services.

GSMA’s new director general Vivek Badrinath, a former Vodafone Group executive, told Moneycontrol that this is not just a business need but an ethical imperative.

“It is important for the quality of business that there should be fairness in the rules. If you're providing similar services, you should have the same rules.

“Suppose you're providing telecom-type services to customers. In that case, there's no reason for mobile operators to have a more difficult set of hurdles, taxation and economic and legal conditions than satellite operators,” Badrinath told Moneycontrol in an interview.

“Same service, same rules should be an ethical principle… it's linked to the level playing field in business matters.”

GSMA is a global organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators and the broader mobile ecosystem and works to drive innovation, policy, and standards in mobile connectivity.

The point of friction 

Badrinath’s remarks come amid growing friction in India’s telecom sector.

In a May 29 letter to the department of telecommunications (DoT), domestic telcos raised concerns over the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI’s) proposal to charge satellite spectrum at 4 percent of adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

Calling the move “non-transparent based on non-justifiable assumption rather than factual data”, industry body COAI told DoT secretary Neeraj Mittal that the regulator’s recommendations were not only inequitable but could also contravene the principles embodied in the Telecommunications Act, 2023. Their implementation would distort competition and threaten the viability of terrestrial networks, the letter, a copy of which was reviewed by Moneycontrol, said.

The Cellular Operators Association of India represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

While acknowledging satellite’s value in remote connectivity and disaster recovery, Badrinath cautioned against overstating its role in bridging the digital divide, noting that satcom remains costlier and cannot resolve core issues such as device affordability and digital literacy.

“Satellite technologies are still today a more expensive way of providing services than terrestrial solutions. So they will not solve the issue of the usage gap, because it is typically linked to the affordability of the device and service,” he added.

He, however, emphasised the importance of ensuring that both satellite and terrestrial networks thrive and develop fairly.

GSMA believes India’s telecom sector is in “reasonable health” and the market structure enables investment despite low tariffs.

The Indian market is highly buoyant from a demand and technology adoption perspective, he said. “We've got some significant players, and the market structure allows operators to invest there…that's a positive. Not all regions of the world have that market structure, and I think India has a chance of having a functional market structure,” Badrinath said.

Vodafone Idea has issues linked to AGR and so on but “if you look at Airtel and Reliance Jio, they have invested in these technologies very actively…it shows a reasonable health of the sector and you see 5G adoption going up fast”, said.

GSMA also backed Indian telcos’ demand for a “fair share” from OTT players such as Netflix, Google, and Meta, large traffic generators, for using their networks.

The GSMA chief emphasised that the fair share debate shouldn't be framed as "us versus them" — between telecom operators and OTT platforms — but a collaborative effort to sustain the digital ecosystem.

Badrinath said 85 percent of the investment in network infrastructure comes from mobile operators who enable users to access OTT content. While OTT players contribute through servers and international links, most funding still comes from telcos. A fair contribution from all stakeholders is necessary to maintain and grow the ecosystem.

“...the investment requirements to cover the population and country with the complexity that India has certainly warrants a debate on, how can we ensure that there's enough money in the ecosystem… India is considering this subject like other countries in Europe and Brazil, and I think rightly so, because the Indian population certainly is a big consumer of OTT content,” he added.

Disclosure: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.