Jio Platforms also announces deal with SpaceX to bring Starlink to India

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio on Wednesday signed a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring Starlink satellite internet services to India.

 

It comes a day after telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel signed a similar partnership pact with SpaceX.

 

This agreement “is subject to SpaceX receiving its authorisations to sell Starlink in India”, Jio Platforms, the company that holds telecom and digital properties of Reliance Industries Ltd, said on Wednesday.

 

The flurry of deals notwithstanding, satellite-based communication services are not expected to disrupt the market for terrestrial mobile services anytime soon, analysts said.

 

Starlink provides high-speed internet access to remote locations by low Earth orbit satellites.

 

As of 2024, it has 4.6 million subscribers across the globe.

 

Jio Platforms said it will not only offer Starlink equipment at Jio’s retail outlets but will also establish a mechanism to support customer service installation and activation.

 

“Starlink complements JioAirFiber and JioFiber by extending high-speed internet to the most challenging of locations in quick and affordable manner,” Jio Platforms Limited said in a press release.

 

“Both parties will seek to leverage Jio’s position as the world's largest mobile operator in terms of data traffic and Starlink’s position as the world’s leading low Earth orbit satellite constellation operator to deliver reliable broadband services across the country,” it said.

 

“Ensuring that every Indian, no matter where they live, has access to affordable and high-speed broadband. It remains Jio’s top priority," said Mathew Oommen, group CEO, Reliance Jio, said.

 

"This would also enable both telcos to expand B2B connectivity & related offerings to enterprises & businesses in these areas that are otherwise lacking in fibre/Fixed Wireless Access connectivity," Citi Research said in a report on Wednesday.

 

Satcom would be complementary to the telcos’ existing offerings, which should lift concerns of Low Earth Orbit satellite services presenting a competitive threat to incumbent telcos, it said.

 

These collaborations will accelerate broadband expansion and play a crucial role in enhancing connectivity across industries such as ports, rural enterprises, mining, oilfields, villages, and India’s Exclusive Economic Zone, where satellite technology can deliver substantial value," Anil Prakash, director general of Satellite Industry Association-India, said.

 

As satellite broadband services expand, the space sector industry body anticipates enhanced ground segment infrastructure, driving growth in satellite gateway stations and teleports, and advancements in satellite terminals and user equipment.

 

Bharti Enterprises chairperson Sunil Bharti Mittal said telecom and satellite players have heeded his call for them to come together and double their strengths to complete the mission of connecting unreached areas, as well as oceans and skies.

 

Arguing that “this is no time to fight”, he had said at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that competition should be on brands and services, and not on building solo capital infrastructure,

 

"Like 4G, 5G, and 6G in the future, we will now have one more technology in our mix, i.e. SAT-G. Soon customers will be able to carry their mobiles to the remotest part of the world, with them in the skies and blue oceans," Mittal said on Wednesday.

 

Analysts said Starlink has teamed up with local telecom operators in most of the over 100 markets it now provides services.

 

But it is yet to become a significant player in these markets.

 

"Satellite-based communication services are not expected to disrupt the market for terrestrial services in the foreseeable future. This is due to the significantly high price of satcom services across the world, owing to the cost of putting satellites in orbit, and the expensive retail equipment," Ankit Jain, vice-president, and sector head at Icra Limited said.

 

However, an unexpected breakthrough in technology may upset the applecart, as has been the case earlier in telecom, and other sectors, Jain noted.

 

Other analysts reckon the deals indicated that Starlink is close to getting all approvals in India.

 

Starlink applied for a global mobile personal communication by satellite (GMPCS) services license in November 2022 and opened pre-booking channels in India in 2021.

 

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has already granted Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Jio's satellite arm Jio Space Limited the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite Services (GMPCS) licence needed to offer satellite-based broadband services in India.

 

Till now, the parent group of both entities — Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio — have remained opposed to foreign satcom providers like Starlink and Amazon's subsidiary Project Kuiper, entering the market to service key segments of the market.

 

Starlink's GMPCS application process has dragged on due to the company seeking a long list of exemptions from certain provisions to operate in India, citing technical limitations. This includes the inability to comply with mandatory ownership disclosure norms.

 

It has also pushed back against rules that mandate operators heed the government's directions to turn off services at times of crisis.

 

According to GMPCS rules, the licensee must use satellites only for authorised services over Indian territory, excluding activities that could compromise national sovereignty and security, such as surveillance or electronic warfare.