Reliance Company Jio Platforms to Soon Launch Satellite Internet Service

Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms, which has businesses ranging from telecom to petroleum, may soon launch satellite internet service in the country. For this, Jio Platforms has formed a joint venture Orbit Connect with Luxembourg’s SES.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink and a unit of e-commerce and technology company Amazon have also launched satellite internet in the country. Service Approval has been sought to launch. Orbit Connect has received approval for this from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe). With this, Orbit Connect will be able to operate satellites in the country’s skies. However, to start this service, company IN-SPACe will have to get approval from the telecom department. Pawan Goenka, chairman of IN-SPACe, told Reuters that another company Inmarsat has also been given approval for high-speed satellite-based internet service.

Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper have also applied for this. Last year, Eutelsat associated with Bharti Enterprises got approval for this service. The country’s satellite broadband service market can grow at a rate of 36 percent per annum in the next five years to reach about $ 1.9 billion. Amazon plans to invest about $ 10 billion in Kuiper.

To start satellite internet services, telecom companies have to get security clearance as well as approval from several ministries. Last year, at the India Mobile Congress, Reliance Jio had said that it has connected four remote areas with its JioSpaceFiber service. These areas are Gir in Gujarat, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Nabarangpur in Odisha and Jorhat in Assam, ONGC. There may be a licensing process in providing spectrum for satellite internet service. Due to this, the companies providing these services will not have to bid for the spectrum. This can be beneficial for Starlink. Foreign internet service companies had demanded licenses for this spectrum. These companies believe that if there is an auction for this in India, then this process can be implemented in other countries as well. This may increase the cost of these companies.

(This news has not been edited by the NDTV team. It has been published directly from the Syndicate feed.)