- India Mobile Congress 2024 (IMC24) has opened its doors in New Delhi
- Airtel’s Sunil Bharti Mittal joins rivals Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea to press the government for an auction of satellite broadband spectrum
- They want a level playing field between satellite providers and traditional telcos but they might be out of luck
- Jio is also pressing for domestic AI development and adoption as well as data sovereignty policies
India Mobile Congress 2024 (IMC24) – India’s leading telcos, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, exerted satellite spectrum and AI policy pressure on the country’s rulemakers during the inaugural session of IMC24 here in India’s capital, but, in the satellite broadband domain at least, they might struggle to prevail.
The head honchos of all of India’s leading telecom service providers were present at the opening session of the event, which kicked off on Tuesday and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Held annually, the four-day event is organised by India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and is one of the largest telecom events in Asia (it is not linked to the GSMA or the Mobile World Congress events).
Akash Ambani, chairman at Reliance Jio, India’s largest service provider (with 479 million customers), focused on two key areas of development. He stressed that India should “holistically embrace artificial intelligence driven by maximum Atma Nirbhar [self-reliance] efforts,” and made a plea for data sovereignty.
