India’s satellite services space is all set for vigorous activity as the country’s largest service provider, Jio, launched JioSpaceFiber, a satellite-based broadband service, recently.
The company demonstrated the country’s first satellite-based giga fiber service by connecting four remote places, Gir in Gujarat, Korba in Chattisgarh, Nabrangpur in Odisha and ONGC in Assam at the recently concluded India Mobile Congress 2023. Jio has partnered with SES to use a Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) constellation to provide connectivity in remote areas.
The service will be available at “highly affordable prices,” according to the companies. “Jio has enabled millions of homes and businesses in India to experience broadband internet for the first time. With JioSpaceFiber, we expand our reach to cover the millions yet to be connected,” said Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, in the press note issued by the company.
Jio plans to launch commercial services in the coming year. As per media reports, the company is targeting both retail and enterprise customers and is planning to go global after the commercial launch of the services in India.
Airtel preps launch of Eutelsat-OneWeb services
On the other hand, Eutelsat-OneWeb, in which Bharti Enterprises has the largest stake, will be ready to offer satellite services from this month.
“Today, the OneWeb constellation in which Bharti has the largest stake is ready to serve the globe and is ready to serve the country. Anybody, anywhere in the country, however remote or far or in difficult areas can be connected from next month onwards from a satellite ground station that has been set up in Gujarat’s Mehsana,” said Sunil Bharti, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, during the inaugural session of India Mobile Congress 2023.
Airtel has a 21.2% stake in the recently announced merger of OneWeb and Eutelsat. Eutelsat-OneWeb has a network of 618 constellations of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.
As of now, only two companies, Jio Satellite Communications and Eutelsat-OneWeb, have licenses to offer satcom services in the country. However, they would be competing with Elon Musk’s Starlink, Tata Group’s Nelco and Amazon’s Project Kuiper in this sector. Amazon has applied for the required approvals from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The critical question that is yet to be resolved is whether the spectrum for satellite services will be auctioned or allocated administratively. While Jio wants the government to auction the spectrum, Airtel believes that the spectrum should be allocated in a non-auction way. This continues to divide the industry as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is yet to give its recommendations regarding this.
A significant part of India’s population remains unconnected, and satellite-based communications can potentially play a crucial role in providing connectivity to them. However, pricing is going to be critical for services to be successful. The Starlink packages, which the company had started to pre-sell before it was forbidden by the Indian government, were deemed expensive for the Indian rural consumer. But it's possible Starlink could get government approval to sell its satellite service soon.
The coming few months are likely to witness a lot of activity in India’s satellite-based communications space.