Congress’ Manish Tewari: Why Is Space Spectrum Being Sold Via Administrative Pricing?

Congress, the main opposition party has jumped into the controversy surrounding pricing of Space Spectrum. The government has decided to give away the spectrum via the administrative pricing route, saying the same has been provided for in The Telecommunications Act, 2023. Congress MP Manish Tewari has said the move is against the Supreme Court judgment of 2012 which said that all natural resources must be auctioned. The industry meanwhile is split with Reliance Industries in favour of an auction, Airtel in favour of a hybrid model and Elon Musk’s Starlink in favour of administrative pricing.