Race to the stars as satcom giants prepare for India launch

India’s satcom market heats up as Airtel, Jio, and Starlink vie for dominance, promising new connectivity solutions amidst regulatory hurdles.

Until 2020, India’s space economy was controlled only through the central government and its central space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation. Since the introduction of a privatised space economy and dedicated space and geospatial policies, one key sector that quickly became fully ready to fire on all cylinders is satellite communications, a crucial industry globally.

Even before the official launch of its services, satcom has already become a highly competitive global industry. A large part of the popularisation was thanks to Elon Musk and his tryst with Starlink, the satcom broadband offering via SpaceX. Now, in India, years in the making, the entire satcom market is standing on its toes as regulatory hurdles keep it from launching full-fledged services.

The Key Players

Pursuant to the service and its outreach are three key and very visible corporations that are vying for a pie of India’s burgeoning market. Two of the three include the private telecom operators in India, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. Airtel plans to offer its satcom service in partnership with UK-headquartered satellite operator OneWeb and US-based communications technology provider Hughes. For Reliance Jio, satellite operations are provided in partnership with Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES—which itself is currently undertaking a USD 3.1-billion takeover of fellow satellite operator Intelsat.

Jio is expected to commence its service as a business-only offering initially before potentially extending its services to customers at a later date.

Beyond the two, the third entity set to compete for space in the satcom race is Elon Musk’s Starlink, which operates its own set of satellites and its own network operations. Jeff Bezos-backed Project Kuiper, which is also interested in India, will be a fourth entrant, but its services are not imminent since its satellite launches have yet to take place.

A fifth entity in India also has the necessary chops for satcom services, Tata-backed satellite services firm Nelco, in partnership with Canada-based operator Telesat. However, the Nelco-Telesat unit withdrew its application in April last year to procure a licence to operate its services.

The Particulars

Satcom services use a constellation or combination of multiple satellites placed in various altitudes of orbit to beam Internet connectivity to Earth. The principles are simple: on the ground, laying down fibre cables for terrestrial connectivity is tricky and tedious in various terrains. As a result, the main blind spots across the world are still struggling to get connectivity, which satcom services can help resolve.

In satellite communications, the satellites themselves are typically placed in varying orbital levels. The uppermost and the oldest conventional orbit is a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO), sitting nearly 36,000 kilometres above Earth’s mean sea level. Satellites deployed at this orbit are typically the largest in size and can be the most expensive in terms of per-satellite cost. However, they also offer the highest area of connectivity back on Earth. They are also more difficult to launch since only a limited number of rocket operators have the capacity to reach the highest orbit around Earth.

Experts indicate that the average cost of building, launching and maintaining a GEO satellite to offer satcom connectivity services to Earth is USD 1 billion. Jio’s partner SES and Tata’s Nelco have GEO satellite capacities.

The second type of satellites is middle earth orbit (MEO) satellites, which many operators typically consider an ideal mid-ground between GEOs and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. MEO satellites sit at an orbit of around 2,000 kilometres, typically needing a constellation of low-single-digit satellite units to serve the same geographic region that a GEO satellite can offer.

Elon Musk’s Starlink, which has its own set of satellites and network operations, is set to compete for its place in India’s Satcom race.

A similar network of MEO satellites can cost around USD 2.5 billion compared with a GEO satellite, but it offers myriad advantages, such as easier launch accessibility, lesser per-satellite cost, better network redundancy, and lower connectivity latency. SES will offer its MEO network to Jio so that it can operate its satcom Internet services in India.

The third and the most popular is the LEO satellite. These are tiny in comparison with the others and operate in chains of hundreds or even thousands of satellites in a constellation. For instance, at the time of writing, Starlink is estimated to have over 6,200 satellites in orbit to offer connectivity around the world. Airtel’s OneWeb has nearly 650 operational satellites. On a per-satellite basis, the cost of LEO satellites is the lowest among all three. The latter also offers advantages such as low latency, sustained network redundancy, and consistent bandwidth of connectivity.

Where Does Each Operator Stand?

While the Airtel-OneWeb service is based on a constellation of LEO satellites, the Jio-SES network will be based on MEO satellites. Both Airtel and Jio have received clearance from the Ministry of Communications with a Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) licence, which has legally enabled the two operators to commence satcom services in India. Starlink, meanwhile, has applied for its GMPCS licence, and the same is pending approval at the Centre.

To be sure, in 2019, Starlink started taking a USD 99 (Rs 7,400 at the time) deposit to take pre-registrations for its Internet service. In late 2021, the Centre stated that Starlink took deposits for its service without obtaining a licence to operate in India, following complaints from local operators. In January 2022, Starlink refunded the fee to users and commenced its licence application process.

Kuiper, meanwhile, is yet to launch its first commercially operational satellite for its satcom service. The Amazon-backed service expects to be operational by 2026 and could seek licences upon commercial availability. While Nelco has also withdrawn its licence application, it could apply for it.

Consumer or Enterprise?

Media reports have cited a Kuiper spokesperson as saying that the network operator will offer connectivity to “unserved and underserved communities in rural and remote places in India.” This suggests that the network will be available to consumers but could be leased through government-aided intermediaries to make the service affordable.

Starlink’s service is designed for consumers, with a terminal designed for consumer access. Once launched, the Airtel-OneWeb consortium is likely to offer satcom connectivity to both consumers and enterprises via captive networks and backhaul. Jio, meanwhile, is expected to commence its service as a business-only offering before potentially extending its services to customers at a later date.

During India Mobile Congress 2023, Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited and Director of Jio Platforms, said that the operator’s satcom service, JioSpaceFiber, will be “affordable”—hinting at a consumer-end offering.

All of these plans, to be sure, presently hinge upon the availability of spectrum for satcom connectivity, the decision of which lies with the Centre. The Telecommunications Act, 2023 has paved the way to offer satcom services across the nation by administratively allocating spectrum to each of the service providers. Once the spectrum is allocated to operators, services can almost instantly commence testing of their networks—and roll out their services as commercial offerings to both enterprises and consumers. 

By Vernika Awal

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