Amazon Inc. has silently applied to obtain the GMPCS (Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite) license in India. The company is eyeing to launch satellite broadband services in India in the coming years. It will be a direct competition for the satcom players such as Starlink and OneWeb. It is worth noting that Jio Satellite Communications Ltd and OneWeb have received the GMPCS license already. So as and when Amazon gets it, it won't be a very easy path to win market share in the Indian market. Starlink is still in the process of obtaining a GMPCS license.
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According to a Financial Express report, Amazon submitted its application for the GMPCS license to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Thursday. This was before the company launched two of its test satellites into the low earth orbit (LEO). Amazon has already successfully sent two satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, to space to get feedback on its services before it goes ahead with the commercial launch.
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Even if Amazon is able to secure a GMPCS license, it doesn't guarantee that the company will be able to start its services. There are other permits a company requires from the Department of Space (DoS) as well as the government to offer satellite communication services in India. Further, the debate over how will the satcom companies be allocated spectrum is ongoing. On top of all this, Amazon will take its sweet time to build a constellation of LEO satellites to offer broadband internet services from space.
Thus, we can expect that Amazon won't be able to launch commercial broadband from space services for quite some time. The company has plans to invest $10 billion USD to offer satellite broadband services throughout the globe. It will help in areas where the internet can't reach through traditional means of deploying fiber.
