Eutelsat OneWeb, a global satellite communications (satcom) service provider is waiting for the government's permission to start commercial services in India. The company has already conducted the necessary tests and has all the necessary regulatory licenses for offering satcom services. Eutelsat OneWeb will be open to partnering with every telecom operator and serving in areas where mobile network connectivity hasn't arrived yet.
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Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises said that OneWeb's two satellite network portals (SNPs) are ready. One is located in the North and the other is in the South. The test has been completed in the Himalayas and deserts to demonstrate the capabilities of satcom networks, said a PTI report. Army, navy and government agencies will benefit immensely from this.
"The terminals are in India, we are just waiting...there is nothing we can do because we can't light it up other than our test case, which has been approved...we can't go commercial until we have it (approvals)," said Mittal according to the report.
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The wait for the government nod is ongoing for Eutelsat OneWeb. The company has also told the government that it can launch services with interim permission and later on, whatever policies and rules will govern the sector can be followed. There's no clairty at the moment over when the services from satcom services will go live in the country. It will be interesting to see how Jio and Bharti compete in this segment as both companies are primarily looking to cater to the B2B customers.
Commerial satcom services for mobile customers will be too expensive as we have seen in the case of Starlink selling pre-booking connections in India.
