E-Paper
Mukesh Ambani- Elon Musk's India satellite internet race heats up as Reliance clears hurdle
Companies from Amazon.com to Elon Musk's Starlink have been waiting for the go-ahead to launch satellite communication services in India.
Reliance Industries' Jio Platforms cleared a major hurdle in its race for satellite internet in India as a joint venture of the company with Luxembourg-based SES to provide gigabit fibre internet won approval from the Indian space regulator to operate satellites, news agency Reuters reported citing a government executive in the know.
Read more: Elon Musk joked about spanking SpaceX coworkers, evaluated 'women's bra size'
The approvals were issued to Orbit Connect India that aims to provide satellite-based high-speed internet access, the report claimed. This comes as companies from Amazon.com to Elon Musk's Starlink have been waiting for the go-ahead to launch satellite communication services in India.
Authorisations were granted in April and June from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre- IN-SPACe which will allow Orbit Connect to operate satellites above India. Although more approvals are needed to begin operations, the report added.
Read more: Why alcohol is now costlier in Gurugram due to Haryana’s latest excise policy
Inmarsat has also gotten approval to operate satellites over India, IN-SPACe chairman Pawan Goenka said as per Reuters, adding, that the more companies were involved in the sector in India, the better off consumers would be.
“Comparatively low pricing of communication services in India will compel global players to drive innovation to reduce their pricing. This is already being done in many industries like automotive, where multinational OEMs had to innovate to meet the expectations of Indian consumers of high performance and low cost,” he said.
Read more: OpenAI not being paid by Apple for ChatGPT integration into iOS: Report
Two other companies, Elon Musk's Starlink and Amazon.com's Kuiper, have applied as well, as per the report.
Deloitte said that India's satellite broadband service market is expected to grow 36% per year over the next five years and reach $1.9 billion by 2030.
