Reliance Jio Likely To Soon Receive Approval To Launch Satcom Services In India: Report (Image: X @reliancejio)
Reliance Jio, led by Mukesh Ambani, is reportedly preparing to launch its satellite-based gigabit fibre services in India. The Economic Times reported that Reliance Jio could soon receive market access authorisations and landing rights from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).
The Economic Times, citing people aware of this matter, reported that the company has made all necessary submissions to the space industry regulator, and Jio may get the required authorisations soon. It is to be noted that the authorisations from IN-SPACe are mandatory for expanding global satellite bandwidth capacity in India. As part of this authorisation process, operators are required to get security clearances as well as approval from several ministries.
In October, Reliance Jio unveiled JioSpaceFiber, which the company says is the country”s first satellite-based gigabit broadband service. This is in addition to Reliance Jio”s existing offerings, which include the JioFiber and Jio AirFiber. Bharti Enterprises” OneWeb, Amazon”s Project Kuiper, and Elon Musk”s Starlink are the main competitors of Jio in this sector. All these companies are looking forward to delivering satellite-based internet services in India. JioSpaceFiber is designed to expand high-speed broadband services to locations that were previously inaccessible. For this significant project, Reliance Jio has partnered with SES, a Luxembourg-based satellite solutions provider, in 2022. In this joint venture, Jio and SES will own 51 percent and 49 percent of the equity stake respectively.
In November, OneWeb India received approval from IN-SPACe to launch their commercial satellite broadband services in India. It is worth mentioning that OneWeb India, part of the Bharti Group and subsidiary of Eutelsat Group, is the first organisation to receive this authorisation. Recently, Pawan Goenka, the Chairman of IN-SPACe, said that the country”s space economy is on track to reach the $44 billion mark in 2033, with about eight percent of the global share.
