Netflix, Amazon, and Hotstar Agree: OTT streaming requires satellite bandwidth
Delhi : OTT streaming companies advocated for expanded usage of satellite bandwidth to reach users during a consultation over the cost of satellite spectrum. The Asia Video sector Association (AVIA) stated in a filing that "hundreds of millions of Indians rely upon [the media industry] for entertainment, information, education, religious participation, and so on." "Satellite-based distribution is necessary to reach these customers both today and in the future. India is comparable to all other major nations worldwide in this regard.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India consultation document was addressed by AVIA, the organisation that represents Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ Hotstar, and other Asian OTT companies. In line with the stance of other international satellite service providers, AVIA asserted that "no other nation on the planet actually auctions satellite frequency assignments."
Shared resource
According to AVIA, satellite spectrum is a fully shared resource among many satellite operators, unlike terrestrial communications. These days, satellite frequencies are repeatedly used at the same area. International ITU [International Telecommunication Union] regulations apply to this re-use. All of the present significant re-use would be eliminated by auctioning and giving exclusive rights to one user, drastically reducing the amount of spectrum resources that are currently accessible to India.
The government should support satellite broadband systems, which often rely on a constellation of internet-connected satellites in the sky to give internet access to remote places, as 5G services won't reach rural people any time in the "near future".
India presently only employs satellite broadband as 'backhaul' in locations like the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, which are not yet connected terrestrially or through an underwater cable to the networks on the Indian mainland.
Opposing auctions
The ITU-APT Foundation of India, a non-profit organisation under the ITU, the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology, the US-India Business Council, the New Delhi-based Satcom Industry Association, and Nasscom, the association for the software industry, are some other participants who supported administrative assignment of satellite spectrum rather than auctioning it.
Which speaks for mobile network operators worldwide, some frequency that may be assigned to satellites should be set aside for terrestrial mobile networks because the expected development of 5G traffic may require more spectrum for this use in the future.
