Reliance Jio and SES joint venture, Orbit Connect has received the crucial landing rights and market access authorisation from IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion & Authorisation Center). Orbit Connect is owned 51% by Jio and 49% by SES. According to an ET report, IN-SPACe has granted the necessary approvals to Orbit Connect for offering commercial services to customers in India. Orbit Connect is looking to get the trial spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the 'ka' and 'ku' bands. This will enable Orbit Connect to conduct advanced trials on its nationwide satellite broadband network with key clients.
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The report said that Orbit Connect is hopeful of receiving the trial spectrum soon so that it can go ahead with the trials. Orbit Connect has become the second company after Bharti-owned Eutelsat OneWeb to receive this approval from IN-SPACe.
This will heat up the competition in the private satellite broadband sector in India. Apart from these two companies, Elon Musk-owned Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper are also looking to enter the Indian satellite broadband market. OneWeb has been trying to secure regulatory approvals from the government for a long time. But things have been stuck or rather going slowly due to security concerns.
Much recently, Starlink announced that it has activated services in over 100 countries. This marks a huge milestone for the company, and it will also help dark connectivity zones across the world in being eliminated.
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Eutelsat OneWeb and Orbit Connect will compete in the Indian market, as soon as the government allocates or auctions the commercial spectrum for satellite services. Currently, the debate in India is about whether the spectrum has to be allocated administratively to the satcom companies or should it be given via the auction route only. Supreme Court of India has already rejected the plea of the Indian government to allocate spectrum administratively.
