A joint venture between Reliance Industries' Jio Platforms and Luxembourg-based SES has gained approval from the Indian space regulator to operate satellites in India. The venture, called Orbit Connect India, aims to provide gigabit fibre internet and has secured three approvals to offer satellite-based high-speed internet access.
This development comes amidst competition from companies like Amazon and Elon Musk's Starlink, who are seeking approval to launch satellite communication services in India.
The authorizations were granted in April and June by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe). These now allow Orbit Connect to operate satellites above India, but the company still needs further approvals from the country's Department of Telecommunications before it can begin operations.
According to IN-SPACe chairman Pawan Goenka, Inmarsat, another company aiming to offer high-speed satellite-based internet, has also received approval to operate satellites over India. Additionally, two other companies, Elon Musk's Starlink and Amazon.com's Kuiper, have applied for similar permissions.
Eutelsat's Bharti Enterprises-backed OneWeb received all of its approvals late last year.
Globally, the race to connect rural areas of the world via space-based internet is accelerating. Amazon plans to invest $10 billion in Kuiper, which was announced in 2019, the year SpaceX began deploying its first operational Starlink satellites.
Last week, Sri Lanka granted preliminary approval to Starlink to provide internet services in the country. Goenka emphasised that increased participation of companies in the Indian market would benefit consumers.
He stated, "The relatively low pricing of communication services in India will motivate global players to innovate and reduce their prices." Goenka, the former managing director of automaker Mahindra & Mahindra, also noted, "This is already evident in many industries such as automotive, where multinational OEMs had to innovate to meet the high performance and low-cost expectations of Indian consumers."
IN-SPACe will also soon authorise private companies to operate ground stations, he said, which would enable satellite operators to download data as they pass over India.
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Inputs from Reuters
