Reliance Jio’s big ticket entry into satellite services on the heels of Bharti Airtel’s OneWeb may have lent a new dimension to the emerging broadband-from-space services market in India. Industry experts, legal experts and analysts suggest that entry of top two telecom players in the satcom space will not lead to a drop in the prices of satellite internet rates soon. Unless global biggies such as Elon Musk’s Starlink,
Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Canada’s Telesat among others launch broadband services via satellites in the country.
“Satcom tariffs in India are far above global norms, and to drive down prices, India needs more (players) than just Reliance and Bharti,” said Anirudh Rastogi, founder and managing partner of Ikigai Law. Ikigai is a tech-focused law firm that advises some of the world’s top satellite service players.
The presence of only two dominant players (Jio and OneWeb) could “result in a duopoly in the nascent satellite broadband segment, Rastogi added. Reliance Jio’s President Matthew Oommen recently told ET that the telecom market leader will work with its global satellite services partner, SES, to disrupt the satcom cost structure by leveraging their respective technologies to deliver affordable broadband from space connectivity.
A recent PLUM Consulting study says provision of high-speed broadband via satellites to India's unserved regions could contribute up to $184.6 billion in GDP growth per annum by 2030. Satellite systems, which can be rolled out a lot faster than terrestrial telecom networks in rural and remote regions, are seen as a viable alternative to connect the unconnected. More so, after the pandemic revealed that millions in India’s remote corners still don’t have fast Internet access or even reliable mobile connections.
UK’s Inmarsat too plans to operate on a B2B model and deliver satellite broadband services in India to aviation and shipping companies, enterprises and government departments. Jeff Bezos led Amazon is also eyeing the Indian market sometime soon. Global satellite operators, on their part, have also warned that any allocation of the premium 28 Ghz spectrum for 5G services would undermine satellite operations in India and lead to coverage gaps.
The government, on its part, is simplifying the clearances drill to hasten satellite broadband network rollouts and also exploring ways to create a vibrant satcom ecosystem. In June 2020, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the government would create a level playing field for private satellite builders, satellite launchers and space-based service providers under its space communication policy, which would bring in a more predictable and reliable regulatory regime.