India’s biggest telecom companies, led by rival billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal, are primed to launch satellite internet services as they challenge Elon Musk’s attempts to establish Starlink in the country.
Bharti Airtel’s joint venture with Eutelsat OneWeb, the Anglo-French satellite communications group, could start operating this month and Ambani’s JioSpaceFiber expects to follow later this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Musk’s SpaceX, the owner of Starlink, has been trying to enter the country for more than three years, but has not won regulatory approvals and was rebuked in 2021 by local authorities for signing up customers without having the proper licences.
Mittal’s company has taken the early lead in India’s internet space race. Unlike competitors, it has obtained all the necessary approvals and can launch as soon as the new government allocates satellite spectrum following the national elections that ended this month. Bharti Airtel was in talks to provide internet to India’s army and navy in remote areas without conventional broadband, said one of the people close to the company, adding that it had “a leg-up compared to the competition”.
Ambani’s Reliance Industries, which owns India’s largest telecoms network with just over half of the nation’s 924mn wireless and wired broadband subscribers, is still awaiting the nod from the nation’s space industry regulator, IN-SPACe.
The full rollout of JioSpaceFiber, Reliance’s joint venture with Luxembourg satellite net work provider SES, may be outlined at the conglomerate’s annual meeting. The meeting is usually in August, when Ambani has been known to make important announcements, said one of the people.
The product will serve as a small business-to-business “niche” offering, with Jio’s main focus remaining on expanding broadband internet access across the country of 1.4 bn, according to another.
But even if Ambani and Mittal are able to secure approvals before Musk, it is unlikely they will ever be able to rival Starlink’s network of more than 6,000 low-orbit satellites and SpaceX’s near monopoly on reusable rockets, with more than 100 launches forecast this year. Starlink was well established and “could start quickly” in India, said an industry
India’s local media reported in April that Starlink had received tentative approvals from the country’s telecoms ministry ahead of Musk’s highly anticipated trip to New Delhi.
But Musk cancelled the visit at the last minute and travelled to neighbouring rival China. There have been no further updates on Starlink’s approvals or the Tesla factory since then.
Bharti Airtel, Reliance and SpaceX, along with India’s space regulator and department of telecommunications, did not respond to requests for comment
