BIF alleges DoT’s draft spectrum rules violate Telecom Act

Broadband Forum India said the latest draft Telecommunications (Spectrum Assignment by Administrative Process) Rules, 2026, by the Department of Telecommunications was violation of the Telecommunications Act, and the think tank was writing to the DoT about the issue.

“We are taking this up with DoT, strongly protesting against such a draft Rule which is not in consonance with the Act and which is retrograde for digital inclusivity as well as the growth of this nascent sector, which holds great promise for connecting the unconnected,” TV Ramachandran, President, BIF said.

According to the draft Rules, satellite communication (Satcom) service providers will need to get security clearance from the Centre, even after receiving licence from the DoT.

This would mean Satcom companies like Elon Musk-owned Starlink, Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satcom have to go through the security clearance, before providing any Internet or mobile phone services.

“We believe that it is an established legality that no Rule can go beyond the boundaries of the parent Act, either with regard to omission, inclusion or modification of the basic terms and conditions. In essence, we opine that such a draft Rule would be ultra vires of the Act,” Ramachandran added.

According to sources, telecom players such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are also going to write to the DoT on these new conditions.

According to a Gazette notification last week, satellite companies will get spectrum administratively unlike through auction for other telecom spectrum and process is fixed with an annual fee of ₹30,000 to ₹50-lakh, based on the service type and there is a non-refundable application fee of ₹1,000 too.

However, as announced by the government earlier, radiowave charges will be determined on the basis of market price (whenever they are allocated), even though spectrum is provided through administrative process.

The DoT has also invited for public comments/suggestions to the draft policy in the next 30 days.

Meanwhile, for State-owned BSNL and MTNL, the draft Rules said their existing spectrum assignments will not be eligible for routine renewal and both will need to submit fresh applications and pay market-linked prices each time they seek for spectrum. The Hindu BusinessLine