A man speaks on his phone while walking past a Jio store in Mumbai, India, on March 22, 2023. Reliance Jio had expanded its 5G services to 41 additional cities at the time, taking its network presence to 406 cities nationwide, according to local media.
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Jio Platforms, India’s biggest telecom operator and digital services company, said Friday that it is assessing the launch of low-earth-orbit satellite communications in the country, a fast-emerging segment that has also attracted global players including Elon Musk’s Starlink.
“Jio connected India on the ground. Now we must connect India from the skies,” Akash Ambani, managing director of Jio Platforms and chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, said in a statement.
Jio Platforms holds a full 100% stake in Reliance Jio Infocomm, India’s largest telecom operator.
Ambani said the company is working with major global satellite constellation providers to lease capacity in a bid to accelerate the rollout of satellite-based connectivity, while also developing its own long-term sovereign capabilities.
Jio will also build its own “ground station infrastructure” in India, which will support its partner constellations, as well as its own future satellites, the managing director said.
The news came as Jio Platforms filed draft papers for an initial public offering on Friday.
Last year, SpaceX announced deals with Jio and India’s second-largest telecom service provider, Bharti Airtel, to roll out Starlink internet services across India. However, the progress has been slow since then, and Starlink has not yet launched service in the country.
Much like Jio, SpaceX’s Starlink also wants to provide satellite connectivity to remote and underserved areas in India.
India had effectively frozen approvals for Musk’s space-based internet service Starlink to begin commercial operations, Bloomberg reported last week, citing security concerns. However, Lauren Dreyer, vice president of Starlink business operations at SpaceX, said the story was misleading in a post on X.
“Starlink remains in active and productive discussions with the Government of India,” Dreyer said in her post.
