OneWeb earlier this year completed its goal of launching 618 LEO (low-earth-orbit) satellites. This meant the company could now offer broadband services from space in any part of the world, directly competing with Elon Musk's Starlink. But when can we expect the company to start offering services in India, one of the largest consumer markets in the world?
Well, for the unaware, OneWeb and Eutelsat Communications SA completed an all-share merger after getting the approval to do so from the shareholders. OneWeb will now be serving as a subsidiary company under the Eutelsat Group, and its name will change to Eutelsat OneWeb. Bharti Enterprises has the largest stake in the merged entity with a 21.2% share.
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Eutelsat Group has been created after the merger. Sunil Bharti Mittal has been appointed as the co-chair and Shravin Bharti Mittal has been appointed as the director on the board of Eutelsat Group.
Sunil Bharti Mittal said that Eutelsat OneWeb is excited to offer commercial services in India later this year. Along with India, the company is looking to reach other countries in the global south to provide broadband services from space where traditional fiber internet can't reach.
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The Govt has a Serious Decision to Make
Even if Eutelsat OneWeb has all the permissions to offer satellite broadband services in India, it won't be able to do so because of one key reason. That is the government has not yet given its final call on how the spectrum will be allocated to the space broadband companies. The discussion is around whether the spectrum should be allocated administratively or should the existing auction route adopted here as well. The satellite broadband companies have asked the government to allocate the spectrum administratively, as that is the global practice.
