Stay tuned, satcom services may come to you by year-end
Satellite communication services
could be commercially launched in India by December, according to industry executives, with three major players - Bharti-backed
Eutelsat OneWeb
,
Reliance Jio-SES
and Elon Musk-owned
Starlink
- having secured the necessary permits and clearances and the government working on finalising terms of allocating spectrum.
"Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) had given its recommendation in May. The DoT (Department of Telecommunications) typically takes two to three months on the outer side to come back with its recommendations and present it to the DCC (Digital Communications Commission)," a senior executive at one of the satcom companies, which has secured all the permits, said on condition of anonymity. "Once the DCC gives its approval, it needs to be vetted by the cabinet. Then the DoT needs to come out with its rules for allotment. Optimistically, the government is likely to be in a position to give spectrum by October."
After spectrum allotment, it would take around a month to start commercial services, according to two executives.
"We are looking at a November-end or December timeline (for launch of commercial services) at an optimistic level," said the first executive.
Eutelsat OneWeb, Jio-SES and Starlink didn't respond to ET's queries.
On Wednesday, US-based Starlink became the third satcom operator after Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Jio-SES JV to get a clearance from the space regulator, Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), to start commercial satcom services in the country. Starlink received its Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) permit last month.
Two other global satcom services firms - Jeff Bezos-owned Amazon Kuiper and Apple's satcom partner Globalstar - are awaiting approvals from the Indian authorities.
India's space economy has a potential to hit $44 billion by 2033 and account for about 8% of the global share, as per IN-SPACe. The country's annual satcom business revenue opportunity is pegged at $1 billion.
The DoT is expected to finalise pricing and rules for allocating satellite spectrum administratively, having receiving recommendations from Trai after a bitter fight between telcos, which wanted the satcom spectrum to be auctioned, and satcom companies such as Starlink and Amazon Kuiper, which wanted the airwaves to be allotted administratively. The government and Trai have since decided on administrative allocation.
"We don't believe any of the players will have a head start in launching commercial services. Since Airtel and Jio are also partners of Starlink, we expect all three (Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio-SES) to start at the same time because that makes sense from a technical, commercial and a compliance standpoint," said Rohan Dhamija, partner and head of India & Middle East at Analysys Mason.
Jio and Bharti Airtel, part of the Bharti Group, which is a large shareholder in Eutelsat OneWeb, have marketing tie-ups with Starlink.
Conceding that Jio-SES and Eutelsat OneWeb have lost out on the chance for a head start in offering satcom in India, a senior executive at one of the two firms said India also lost out in the process.
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