Amazon's Project Kuiper is also seeking regulatory licenses for offering satellite communications (satcom) in India. Project Kuiper will compete against the likes of Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Jio's satellite arm. According to a report from ET, Project Kuiper has already submitted all the necessary documents to the government. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is currently evaluating the documents submitted by an Amazon-owned company.
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If the DoT feels the documents submitted by the company are enough, then it will be taken up by an inter-ministerial committee in the next meeting, said the report. But things aren't that simple when it comes to offering satcom services in India. Apart from the inter-ministerial committee, even the Home Ministry has to clear the company's plans to offer services from a security standpoint.
It is worth noting that Elon Musk-owned Starlink has not yet been able to secure a license for starting commercial services in the country. Only Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Industries owned company has managed to do that. Apart from this, there's also the matter of spectrum. The government has not yet finalised how the spectrum will be offered to the satcom companies. But more likely, it will be through the auction route as the Supreme Court of India decided not to entertain the idea of administrative allocation.
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Currently, any company offering communication services in India can only get spectrum through the auction route to ensure transparency is maintained. What will be interesting here is to see if Amazon can get a GMPCS (Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite Services) license ahead of Starlink, which has been trying to secure one for years now. Starlink has not yet adhered to all the government requirements, and that's the reason why it has not been able to secure a license yet.
